The Elite Chunin
by VeryBoredSoul
Summary: "Come back and sleep. 's too early to be awake righ' now." Normally, Izumo wouldn't have turned down Kotetsu's offer to come to bed. In fact, Izumo would jump at the chance. It's just that there wasn't something right about this picture, and Izumo knew exactly what it was. Hagane Kotetsu hated Kamizuki Izumo with a passion.
1. Chapter 1

Izumo breathed out a sigh of contentment as he snuggled deeper into the warmth surrounding him. His mind was sluggish: in a foggy haze between awake and asleep. He was drifting, barely aware that he must be at home; otherwise, he wouldn't be able to enjoy this half-awake feeling.

A deep yawn behind him alerted the chunin to someone else's presence in his bedroom…in his bed.

Snapping his eyes open, Izumo jerked awake and jumped out of bed to face the culprit who was skilled enough to enter his apartment, bedroom, and _bed_ without his knowledge.

Sprawled on the bed, shirtless and with his boxers lying dangerously low on his hips, was none other than one Hagane Kotetsu. Izumo's mouth hung open with astonishment.

Wha-?

"'Zum?" Kotetsu's voice was thick with sleep, and he seemed to be upset that Izumo wasn't lying in bed beside him anymore. "What're you doin' jumpin' out o' bed like that? Come back and sleep. 's too early to be awake righ' now." Kotetsu's speech was slurred by his inability to wake up fully. He burrowed further under the covers and was soon snoozing away again.

Normally, Izumo wouldn't have turned down Kotetsu's offer to come to bed. In fact, Izumo would jump at the chance. It's just that there wasn't something right about this picture, and Izumo knew exactly what it was.

Hagane Kotetsu hated Kamizuki Izumo with a passion.

~i~*~k~

Izumo never got to return to bed with Kotetsu. As soon as his head cleared, the dream had faded away.

In reality, Izumo was lying in a pile of his own filth and blood, waiting for his tormentors to come back for round…eleven. Maybe it was twelve. Izumo had lost count somewhere around seven.

Izumo figured this was how his psyche was trying to cope. Kotetsu had been the object of obsession ever since Izumo was a genin, probably earlier if he was honest with himself. What better way to soothe the body than to have the mind believe what it wanted to? That was the reason for the dream… hallucination. Whatever. Izumo couldn't even tell when he was awake or asleep anymore.

And it certainly didn't help that he was from a clan whose sleep schedule revolved around the moon. Kamizuki. God Moon. It's why his elemental affinity was for water. The water and the moon are like teammates, close friends, maybe even lovers if you wanted to be poetic. The point is that they work in unison and have perfect synchronization.

Ah, but Izumo's mind was just running around in circles now. He couldn't keep his head clear. His body ached too much.

He knew for a fact that his left wrist, right thumb, right ankle, and a third of his ribs were broken. He'd been awake enough to remember the pain of when they were broken. But he had passed out quite a few times during the torture sessions, and he wasn't sure what aches were from bruising, breaks, or swelling.

All he knew was that he hadn't given his captors any information on Konoha.

It sucked that the Mist Village knew of the Kamizuki sleep cycle. If he had been captured by any other village, they wouldn't have known about the lunar calendar the Kamizuki clan was a strict keeper to. But Mist being Mist knew about it because they had clans that had fought the Kamizuki clan many times before the hidden villages existed. And the Kamizuki clan was something an opposing clan didn't just forget about. Clans that had fought with or against the Kamizuki knew that they were a force to be reckoned with, especially when they were at their strongest: the full moon.

Izumo was frustrated. He had been at his strongest approximately three days after he was captured. His tormentors made sure to break his ankle and wrist so he couldn't run or form proper hand signs. Izumo vaguely wondered why they hadn't broken his leg or fingers, but he couldn't focus enough to concentrate long enough to figure out an answer.

All he knew was that the new moon was coming soon, and his captors were making sure he couldn't sleep.

Studying generations of Kamizukis that came before him, Izumo knew that his sleep during the waxing and waning crescents, the young and old moon, and the new moon were the most vital to him. If he could sleep properly while they were in the sky, his body would be able to balance itself and reset some of his systems. Maybe even prepare his body to give him enough adrenaline to attempt an escape.

Ah, perhaps that was the reason for his hallucination/dream about Kotetsu just now. His subconscious was trying to trick his body into a sense of calm and safety so it could try resting for a long enough time that he'd fall into a deep sleep, even here in enemy territory.

Not that it would have worked. There was a guard in the cell with Izumo, and every time Izumo so much as dozed off, the guard would hit him to wake him up.

Izumo vaguely knew that soon they would resort to other torture methods to keep him awake, not just throwing punches. Water immersion, drowning, heat, cold…anything so his body couldn't get the precious sleep it needed during the time it needed to the most.

He really hated that the Mist Village had been the ones to capture him.

His mission wasn't even directly dealing with their country! As an elite chunin, he was working under Ibiki's orders to infiltrate a worrying group of Hidden Cloud shinobi from the Land of Lightning that had come under the Hokage's radar. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But that was the story of his life, certainly.

Izumo gasped as the guard hit his stomach especially hard. He hadn't even been dozing. Just resting his eyes.

Izumo breathed through the pain as much as he could. He wondered if there was a rescue mission coming for him. He doubted it: knowing Ibiki, he'd leave him to die. If Izumo let information slip; well, then there'd be a squad after him, but not for retrieval purposes.

Either way, death was on the end of this scythe.

~i~*~k~

Izumo gasped and sputtered as he was pulled from the freezing cold water again. His muscles were tremoring, he was completely numb, and he only knew he was in bad shape because he could see that his skin was tinged blue.

If they didn't warm him up at least a little, they were going to succeed in killing him.

Of course, the head of the torture operation didn't want his only pet to die just yet. So instead of going back into the underground tub of ice cold water, they put him in a different tub that contained slightly warmer water. It wasn't too much warmer though, didn't want to throw the prisoner into shock while they were warming him up, naturally.

While Izumo was being held under, he tried taking a deep breath of water so he could just drown himself, but whoever was holding him under must have been looking for signs that he would try this. As soon as he took a deep enough breath of water, the hands would pull him up, and he'd be coughing and sputtering again.

This time, though, Izumo heard a distinct lack of sound when his head reemerged from his cold bath. That's odd…where were the voices he had been hearing every time they had pulled him out of the water? A loud splash startled him, causing his body to jerk. He was going under again, unable to push the body off of him or even move his arms or legs. Vaguely, he wondered if hypothermia had set in yet. Was he finally going to drown?

Hands pulled him one more time from the water, before he was coughing and shaking and falling on his side because it was just too much effort, why couldn't they just leave him be and let him die?

But then, he felt someone pick him up and surely his captors wouldn't carry him around; they'd make him walk or drag him across the floor. What was going on?

His breathing sped up before he felt a slight pressure on his neck and all was right in the world because he could finally sleep.

~i~*~k~

"…bad shape…no sleep…forced awareness…ice water immersion…found…barely stable."

Izumo couldn't even register those words before he was passed out again.

~i~*~k~

Kotetsu was so very glad that Konoha had a safe shelter not even half a day from where he was. He had admittedly gotten lost as he came back from his mission, and he was finally in an area that he somewhat recognized. He really needed to restock supplies before he could head home, and his chakra was getting to be worryingly low. He figured he could stay at the safe shelter a day, two at most, before returning to Konoha with his mission report in hand.

Kotetsu nodded to himself and set his course.

Things had been insanely busy in the village these past few years since the Third had to step back into the saddle, but recently the havoc was calming down, and the village was returning to normal life as the reconstruction from the fox was finishing up. That meant that Kotetsu and other shinobi alike were returning to routine missions. In fact, Kotetsu currently was working under Ibiki as one of his elite chunin, and damn did that man crack the whip. He'd been going on missions nonstop for the past few months, and he couldn't wait for a break.

Maybe he should only spend the rest of the day and night there before returning to Konoha. Kotetsu knew he was pushing the time limit for this mission as it was, and he didn't like to be yelled at by Ibiki. That man was mean.

Sighing, Kotetsu quickened his pace as much as he dared with his limited chakra supply. The faster he got there, the faster he could get to rest, and the more energy he would have to travel back to Konoha in the morning.

~i~*~k~

When Kotetsu managed to get to and find the safe house, he hadn't imagined it would be in use. In fact, he had thought that it would be rundown and overgrown, and he would have a harder time finding it.

Well, that couldn't have been further from the truth.

As soon as he got within a short distance from the safe house, a Konoha ANBU appeared in front of him and asked his name, rank, ninja registration number, birthday, and blood type. "Hagane Kotetsu. Elite chunin. 012050. July 21. Type B." After listing off the required greeting to the ANBU, Kotetsu was beyond curious about what was going on. He had told the ANBU that he was returning from a mission, and he was low on chakra, in hopes of not being turned away and having to seek shelter elsewhere. After a quick nod and a wave of his hand, the ANBU led Kotetsu to the safe house.

The safe house was swarming with medical personnel and ANBU members. Kotetsu wondered just what he had stumbled in upon.

He was led inside and made to sit out of the way, which he didn't mind, because he really didn't feel like getting trampled on thank you very much.

His curiosity, however, was fueled as he saw another elite chunin's uniform hanging by the fire mantle. Granted, the uniform was in awful condition. It was slashed and stained and, really, more in bits and pieces than in full working condition.

He figured whoever was injured was probably the owner of that uniform. One didn't need to be particularly bright to put two and two together. The medic ninjas, the ANBU, the elite chunin uniform: it was obvious to Kotetsu that Ibiki finally got his favorite elite chunin back – Kamizuki Izumo.

The guy Kotetsu detested.

At least, that's who Kotetsu was assuming it was. No other elite chunin had been on a mission that could have been particularly dangerous, and Izumo had been missing for quite a long time after his last mission's return date. That usually meant one of two things: captured and tortured, or dead.

Kotetsu heaved a sigh and came to a decision. Just because he hated the guy didn't mean he'd want the guy to be captured and tortured. So, pulling off his knapsack, Kotetsu rummaged around until he found the spare uniform he kept in the bottom of his bag for purposes such as the ruination of the one he was wearing. Figuring Izumo didn't have a spare uniform on him, and being highly suspicious that Izumo would want to return to the village wearing a standard issued elite chunin uniform and not rags; Kotetsu stood up and approached one of the medic ninja with his spare set of clothing.

"Here. We're about the same measurements, and he would want to be dressed in these instead of those ruined ones." The medic looked slightly grateful as she took the clothes from Kotetsu. She had probably thought the same thing Kotetsu did: that the clothes hanging by the mantle were in awful condition and not meant to be put back onto a human body.

Kotetsu walked over to the ruined uniform and began looking for anything that might have been sewn into the hems. Normally, tormentors stripped their victims of their old clothes, but these guys must have thought Izumo wasn't much of a threat after they'd emptied out all of his pockets.

Well, they hadn't been wrong. Kotetsu thought grimly. Not one weapon sewn into his uniform anywhere. Granted, they could have found those and taken them, but Kotetsu highly doubted that.

The dark haired young man sighed, and he was about to toss the uniform in the fire when a voice commanded him that he stop.

Kotetsu turned slightly and met the gaze of the ANBU who escorted him here earlier.

"Izumo-san wanted that uniform preserved. As such, we're leaving it to dry before packing it away."

Kotetsu nodded and hung it back where it had been. So, that's why they hadn't already burned it. It made Kotetsu wonder why exactly Izumo didn't want the uniform burned. Strange one.

But Kotetsu didn't want to think about Izumo anymore. He didn't like to think about the other chunin that much. And he needed to rest. So Kotetsu wandered off to find a relatively quiet area to sleep in.

~i~*~k~

Izumo woke up screaming and thrashing. He was underwater again, and his tormentors were holding him down: not letting him move. He didn't understand why he was breathing in air. Weren't they trying to drown him? Why let him live if he wasn't going to give them any information?

"IZUMO!" At the sound of a familiar voice, Izumo calmed some, waking up fully and taking in his surroundings. That's right…he had been rescued. There were ANBU, medic nins, and…Kotetsu?

Izumo blinked. No. He couldn't be hallucinating again. He had been rescued! Earlier, he had woken up lucid enough to remember the ANBU explaining to him about his recent salvation. Kami, please please PLEASE! He hadn't hallucinated being rescued, had he!?

Izumo was starting to panic again before he felt a wave of calm rush over him. A medic ninja's green chakra glowed behind his head, calming him down and making him think straight.

A voice from behind an ANBU mask addressed him. "Kamizuki Izumo. Elite chunin. 012049. November 25. Type A."

Izumo relaxed slightly. That was Konoha's required dialect when two leaf ninja who didn't know or recognize each other met up. It had a specific order. Last then first name. Ninja rank, specifics if not ANBU, like elite or tokubetsu. Ninja registration number. Birthday, not year. Blood type, always saying the word "type" before giving the denoting letter. Normally, he would have been the one to say all of this, but the ANBU must have realized Izumo would calm down if he knew that he was in the presence of friends.

If this wasn't another hallucination that is.

Izumo shook his head slightly to clear away his negative thoughts. No. This wasn't a hallucination. He really had been rescued. Earlier. He had been awake earlier and had told the ninjas to save his uniform. He saw it hanging by the fire, so he knew this was real. None of his hallucinations had his uniform in them, so he knew, he hoped, _this had to be_ real.

But it still didn't explain why Kotetsu was here.

Izumo glanced at the other elite chunin, before looking away as Kotetsu met his gaze.

Sinking into himself, Izumo curled up. He was still so very tired.

As he drifted off into unconsciousness, the whispers of the other ninja around him faded away.

~i~*~k~

Kotetsu had been in the safe house nearly a week. Ibiki had sent word that Kotetsu was to stay at the safe house with Izumo until the brunet was ready to return to Konoha.

Kotetsu really hated Ibiki and Izumo the moment he had read Ibiki's return letter. Of course, Kotetsu should have kept his mouth shut about being at the safe house where Izumo was being treated.

The only upside in this whole mess was that it was looking like they were going to leave soon. Izumo's body was recovering rapidly, and soon he would be fit to travel, albeit slowly. Maybe another couple days.

It wasn't his body that was the problem; however, it was his mind that was still unstable.

Ibiki had good reason to have Kotetsu stay with Izumo. It allowed all the ANBU, except for one, to return to Konoha and their duties. It also saved Ibiki time, because he didn't have to come get Izumo himself.

And Kotetsu knew, with just what he saw this past week that Izumo's psyche would need to be checked out. Ibiki didn't want Kotetsu to stay with Izumo because it relieved ANBU to go back to their posts. He didn't even make Kotetsu stay because it would take away from Ibiki's time.

No. The reason Kotetsu was to stay with Izumo was so that he could report back to Ibiki about every little detail involving Izumo's psyche that he had witnessed in the past several days. Kotetsu was also there to make sure that Izumo didn't break before he was safely under the roof of T&I headquarters.

Ibiki had a special way of doing things. The Third Hokage and Ibiki got along fairly well, but when a ninja broke, the two approached the situation as different as oil was from water.

When ANBU broke, the Third relieved them of duty. Made them go to counseling sessions. Tried to get them to heal their psyche before putting them on active duty again.

When T&I ninja broke, Ibiki got into their heads, worked them over a little bit, and made them get back to work.

So, if Izumo was going to break, Kotetsu had to make sure it was after they were well into the T&I headquarters. Otherwise, the Third would get involved, and Ibiki would get pissed off.

Kotetsu sighed. This was all just such a hassle for someone he didn't even like.

~i~*~k~

Izumo's skin prickled with warmth. It was pleasant, not overbearing, and he was about to be lulled back into sleep by it, when he heard a voice cut through his thoughts.

"Kamizuki Izumo, wake up for Kami's sake!" Izumo's eyes twitched opened, and he glared at the bright light shining in his direct line of sight.

Ibiki turned the light away, frowning at Izumo's reaction.

"Kamizuki," Ibiki growled. "You pussy. You think being worked over for a couple of weeks earns you time off? You better think again."

Izumo inhaled sharply then released his breath slowly. He gathered his bearings and recalled what had happened.

Two weeks of rest and healing sessions were what Izumo needed before he was able enough to travel again. Kotetsu had been quite impatient, so Izumo tried to appease him by traveling at a moderately fast (for him at the time) pace.

Naturally, this meant the ANBU member and the medic ninjas that had remained at the safe house grumbled about him pushing himself too fast too far too soon. Izumo didn't care. After what he'd been through, it didn't hurt that much to force his body to walk fast.

Upon arriving back in Konoha after a painfully slow four days of travel, they were met at the gates by none other than Morino Ibiki. Ibiki took Izumo, had him relay his mission details and his torture session details, before letting him get patched up some more by T&I medic ninjas.

He was given a room to rest in for a couple days before Ibiki returned.

Izumo had undergone something akin to an interrogation session, to double check that Izumo didn't let any details about Konoha slip to the Mist Nin. At some point during this time, psych ninjas were in the room, and they evaluated Izumo thoroughly: scanning his memories, analyzing his emotions and mental state, among several other things that Izumo didn't care to remember.

After another couple days of rest, Izumo had been left in a room with only a single uncomfortable leather chair – akin to one that would be found in a dentist's office – occupying it, and he had been told to sit down and wait.

He must have fallen asleep, because this was when Ibiki had come in and shone the bright light onto Izumo's face, forcing the elite chunin to wake up none too kindly.

Looking at Ibiki, Izumo wondered why he ever became an elite chunin in the first place.

"Kamizuki. You've requested time off because you're afraid you'll be a liability in the field?" Ibiki's gaze narrowed, and Izumo jerkily nodded his head.

Izumo shuffled nervously under that piercing stare before Ibiki continued talking. "I'm not giving you leave for time off. You've already had enough of that. You're going to be assigned a teammate from now on, until I deem you stable enough to return to individual work.

"What I will do is give you another week to retrain your body. It's out of use and that will put your teammate at risk in the field. You also need to adjust to all of your broken and re-healed bones. Your reflexes will be different, so you better memorize the difference in angles quickly.

"Your teammate and you will be put on lower ranking missions until you feel that you are comfortable within your body again. Luckily for you, the chunin exams are coming up. You and your teammate will be assigned to travel to Kumogakure in the Land of Lightning to help proctor the exams. I suggest you also keep an eye on the group that I had you investigating before this whole mess began."

Izumo nodded to show his understanding. "The chunin exams, will it only be my teammate and I going from Konoha to proctor? How many Konoha teams are participating this year? And when will we leave?"

Ibiki smiled. There was the quick intelligence that he liked so much about Izumo. "You, your teammate, and one ANBU member are going to proctor. There are six teams from Konoha participating this year. And you will leave in one week to travel to Lightning."

Izumo nodded in understanding. It was unsurprising that an ANBU member had been assigned to go proctor the chunin exam in the Hidden Cloud Village considering the unsteady relationship between the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning at the moment.

What was surprising was that Ibiki wanted him to proctor, even with what just happened. Usually, nations set limits on how many proctors could come in from different villages. Depending on how many teams there were and where they were from determined which country brought how many proctors.

Since Konoha was allowed three proctors and there were six teams participating, this meant that Konoha was taking up a decent portion of participants for the chunin exams this year. So, it was surprising that Ibiki wanted to waste a position of proctor on Izumo. He should have had two ANBU go, or even two fully collected elite chunin.

But being a proctor for something as politically involved as the chunin exams was a fairly easy mission as long as everyone got along all right and didn't try to kill each other or start a war during the exams. So Izumo could also see Ibiki's reasoning in having him take a position in this.

Izumo grimaced slightly, thinking that he had better train his ass off in the next week before their leave date; otherwise, he might cause more trouble than he was worth.

"As to the matter of assigning you your teammate, I have decided to pick Hagane Kotetsu. I know you two don't get along too well, but that's mostly his problem, so he's going to have to deal with it until you are able to take solo missions again.

"Being your teammate means he's also a proctor for the chunin exams. You two had better get along for the duration of your stay in Kumo. To jumpstart your bonding time, he and you will be training with each other for the next week before you leave. This will also help you relearn your body's balance, technique, angles, reflexes, and the like when you two spar. And I mean when. Not if."

Izumo nodded glumly at Ibiki's orders. Great. The man who hated Kamizuki Izumo more than anyone, and they were stuck together as teammates until Izumo was back at solo working capacity.

Ibiki rolled his eyes as he saw Izumo breathe out a long suffering sigh. "Don't complain, or I may assign you someone that you like even less. If you have no further questions, leave and get to training. Hagane is waiting for you in training area three."

Izumo nodded and stood. He bowed to Ibiki, showing his gratitude before swiftly leaving the T&I building.

Izumo hoped with all of his being that Kotetsu would be civil toward him during the time they were forced to be together. Izumo also hoped his body and his psyche would heal quickly. Otherwise, Izumo feared that his heart would be broken beyond repair.


	2. Chapter 2

Sweat poured off Izumo's form as he dropped down low to avoid the roundhouse kick aimed for his head. Apparently, sparring with Kotetsu actually made the raven haired young man happy because then he could hit Izumo for putting him in this situation in the first place.

As for Izumo? He was just happy that he was in close quarters with his long-time crush.

Although, _ouch!_ , that chunin certainly did not pull any punches. Izumo grimaced and staggered back, holding the side of his head that Kotetsu just decked with a strong right hook. Izumo lost his balance in the process and ended up falling flat on his butt. _Totally uncool_ , Izumo thought, trying to hide his embarrassment at being so easily bested.

"Sorry, Kamizuki. Forgot you're injured." Kotetsu said.

Izumo didn't think he really meant it though. After all, Kotetsu blamed Izumo for getting him stuck in this mess in the first place. Izumo couldn't really blame the other man for being angry, he just wished that Kotetsu wouldn't take his anger out on him during their sparring matches.

"Ah…'s okay. Listen…I'm getting kind of hungry. Hour lunch break?" Izumo asked hopefully. It was well past noon, creeping into the dinner hours, and Izumo hadn't had anything to eat all day. It probably wasn't smart of him since he was trying to heal, but he had been running late this morning, and he didn't want to keep Kotetsu waiting for him at the training grounds, so he skipped breakfast.

Kotetsu glanced at the sun's position and nodded in agreement. "You still like that tea and sweets shop by Yakiniku Q? We could grab something there to snack on until dinner."

Izumo was impressed that Kotetsu remembered _Amaiguriama_. When he and Kotetsu were kids, they would always beg their parents and older siblings if they could visit the shop and get some sweets. Nowadays, Izumo and Iruka frequented the shop together whenever they both had free time.

Izumo nodded an affirmative. "They added tables, so we could sit and rest inside to get out of this awful heat."

Kotetsu nodded and began collecting his various weapons and holsters. Izumo stood then donned his shirt and vest before turning to watch Kotetsu's form. Izumo always did this to himself. For the past three days that the two had been training and sparring together, Izumo watched Kotetsu silently when the other young man was distracted. He admired the spiky haired chunin, and he missed the easy friendship the two of them used to have.

Kotetsu straightened after collecting all of his things. The two chunin headed out to _Amaiguriama_ , ambling along and chatting pleasantly with anyone who came across their path.

Izumo noticed that anyone who knew about the situation between the two chunin seemed to stop and stare at them as they walked down the street. It was making him feel mildly uncomfortable, and he tried to hurry along. Izumo really, _really_ , did not want to be asked about his venture with Mist torture. The nightmares were enough, let alone having to fend them off during the day.

So Izumo increased his pace, and Kotetsu hurried along after him once he noticed that his teammate was no longer by his side. Ibiki had warned Kotetsu that Izumo was not to be let out of his sight when they were in public, and it frustrated the young chunin that he was stuck being Izumo's babysitter. Ibiki sure knew how to piss Kotetsu off.

"Why're you walking so fast? It's not like the shop is going to close in the middle of the day!" Kotetsu barked with a harsh undertone in his voice.

Izumo sighed and just kept up with his brisk pace. Unfortunately, Kotetsu's grumbling distracted Izumo just enough that he didn't sense the body right around the corner, and Izumo quite literally ran into the other man.

There was the hard impact of bodies, a grunt, and Izumo was, quite suddenly, in a crouched defensive position that his instincts screamed at his body to take.

 _Calm down, Kamizuki!_ Izumo mentally berated himself. _You're in Konoha! No Mist ninja is around to attack and capture and torture you. You are among FRIENDS!_

Izumo's posture relaxed as he saw the other man stand up and brush himself off.

"Mizuki!" Izumo rushed over to help the silver haired chunin dust off. "I'm so sorry about that!"

Izumo heard a chuckle coming from the other man's lips, and he felt his posture relax. Mizuki was an okay guy. He had always been nice to Izumo, and Mizuki was one of Iruka's best friends. "That's alright, 'Zumo!" Izumo slightly jerked at the nickname. He didn't know Mizuki that well, but he guessed that maybe Iruka told Mizuki about Izumo, just as Iruka told Izumo about Mizuki.

Izumo smiled sheepishly and scratched lightly on his cheek. He was fighting the oncoming blush he could feel, and he hated that he knew Kotetsu was behind him watching the interaction with at least the slightest bit of contempt.

Izumo knew that Kotetsu did not like Mizuki. Not when they were academy students, not when they were genin, and most certainly not now that they were chunin.

Izumo had never found out the reason why Kotetsu hated Mizuki, but the time to ask had certainly passed him by.

"Ne…'Zumo…I got to ask…Is it true? What they're saying? I wanted to make sure you're okay if it is true."

Izumo felt his body tense at the seemingly well-meant question. This was why he had been trying to get to the shop quickly. Not a lot of ninja ventured into that sweet shop, so he would have been left alone for the most part. He had already been asked by seven different people, four of whom he didn't even know, about his capture and torture. And while he wasn't allowed to say anything, it didn't mean that people stopped asking about it.

Every time they asked, it just cut a hole straight through his mind to the memories he was trying to fight off.

Izumo didn't even realize that he had checked out of the conversation when he heard Kotetsu's voice, "Ne, 'Zuki-kun," for some reason, Izumo thought Kotetsu's voice held a bit of mocking condemnation in it. "'Zum and I need to get going. We're taking a break from training and need to get back to it. It's always such a pleasure seeing you."

Kotetsu grabbed Izumo's arm and maneuvered them around Mizuki. Izumo tried to say a farewell, but Kotetsu had blocked his line of sight, and the only glimpse Izumo got of Mizuki was a slight glare directed at the back of Kotetsu's head.

"Why were you being rude to Mizuki? He was just wondering how I was doing." Izumo didn't mean for the words to come out quite that defensive, but that's how they ended up leaving his mouth.

Kotetsu grunted in frustration and let go of Izumo's arm. "Trust me, 'Zum, he was not asking to see how you were doing out of concern for your well-being." The growl lacing Kotetsu's voice had Izumo's mind reeling.

"You called me 'Zum." Izumo's brain was having a slow time processing Kotetsu's words, but yes, Kotetsu had called him 'Zum. "Twice actually…"

Kotetsu held in a smile at the soft whisper that came from his childhood friend. "Yeah…well…" Kotetsu didn't continue on, opting instead to rub the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Izumo's smile was the brightest Kotetsu had seen it in a long time. "You haven't called me that since we were…well…since before…you know…" Izumo trailed off too, not quite knowing what to say.

Kotetsu nodded jerkily. "Well…Mizuki was being a douche, and it just kind of slipped out. Anyway, we should try to pretend to get along in front of other people; otherwise, we'll piss off somebody during our proctor mission and then Ibiki will have both our asses."

Izumo shivered at the imagined torture that Ibiki would put them through should they mess up their proctoring assignment, and he nodded in agreement.

The two chunin came up to the sweets shop, and they both settled in for a nice hour long break.

~i~*~k~

"Kotetsu? You remember saying how we should pretend to get along in front of other people so we don't piss anyone, namely Ibiki, off? Well, how about we tried getting along for real?" Izumo shook his head at his reflection and scoffed at his own weak attempt to try and patch up his old friendship with the spiky haired chunin. "Get real, Kamizuki. Kotetsu wouldn't want to be your friend again if you were the last person on this planet. Not after Emiko…"

Izumo shook his head gently to clear away the rest of his thoughts. Thinking like this was only going to make him depressed. Instead, he made breakfast, ate, changed his clothes, and headed out for training ground 30.

Today was the last day of Izumo's recuperation week. Their little party would set out for the chunin exams tomorrow morning at 0600.

Izumo felt like his body would be capable in a fight, but it was nothing like how he used to be confident in it. His broken bones had all been healed but not with the perfect alignment that he had been born with. Even a fraction of centimeter off, and Izumo's entire fighting stance was thrown off. He had learned a great deal training with Kotetsu this past week, and he was immensely grateful to the other young man as well as to Ibiki. Training by himself would not have given him the confidence that he would need should he be involved in an actual fight.

 _Let's just hope the chunin exams this year don't involve any fights that the proctors will have to be involved in_ , Izumo thought grimly but not holding out for much hope.

Izumo arrived at the training grounds early, and began his warm up routine without Kotetsu. He made sure to warm up his body, his chakra, his mind, as well as go through some routine breathing exercises. He had promised himself that by the end of this week, he would give Kotetsu a run for his money. Kotetsu had bet Izumo dinner that he wouldn't be able to pin the spiky haired chunin by the end of the week. So, Izumo was gunning to win that wager today.

Rolling his head and shoulders, Izumo was finally ready. Kotetsu had shown up about halfway through Izumo's warm up routine, and he had patiently waited for the chocolate haired ninja to finish.

Izumo looked over at his teammate and asked him if he was ready. Kotetsu nodded.

The pair flew apart and took up positions in the trees. Izumo would wait for Kotetsu to strike first. Knowing the spiky haired chunin, he would get bored quickly and throw some preemptive kunai in eight general directions.

Izumo was right. Not even a second later after having those thoughts did Izumo have to dodge two kunai coming his way. Izumo made sure his footing was good before pushing off and landing on the ground. He knew the approximate location of Kotetsu now, but he would sit back and wait to see what the other man would do.

After a few minutes of waiting, Kotetsu jumped out of the tree line with a pair of kusarigama nun chucks wielded in his hands.

Izumo closed his eyes for a brief second, collecting himself at seeing how sexy Kotetsu looked while he was in fighting mode. Unfortunately this happened a lot during their sparring sessions, and Izumo usually got distracted by Kotetsu frequently, thereby letting Kotetsu get the upper hand on Izumo. But not this time. Today was the day that Izumo would best Kotetsu.

Leaping out of his hiding spot, Izumo pulled out a wakizashi, fortified it with some water chakra and began to duel with Kotetsu, weapon for weapon, hit for block, and move for move.

The two would have been nearly equally matched if Izumo was at his normal fighting level, but Izumo had weakened over the weeks of capture, torture, rest, and recuperation. His movements, although skilled, were slow and jagged.

Kotetsu managed to get the chain wrapped around one of Izumo's legs. Kotetsu pulled, and Izumo fell back. He tried to turn it into a backflip, but the angle was wrong, and instead he landed on his backside with an, "ump!"

He heard Kotetsu chuckle then fully burst out into laughter. Izumo lifted his head to glare, but to his utter horror, he saw just exactly why Kotetsu was rolling on the ground in a fit of giggles.

The yank from the chain had been enough to tear Izumo's leg bindings, and his pants had slipped part of the way off as well. The result? His bright pink candy hearts and deep red lipstick kisses boxers were showing for all the world to see.

Blushing like a madman, Izumo righted his pants over his hips and glared daggers at the dark haired young man who was laughing at him.

Kotetsu wheezed to a stop a few minutes later, wiping the tears from his eyes, and taking a few deep breaths to replenish the air he had lost.

As soon as Kotetsu looked at Izumo, he was in another fit of giggles.

Izumo crossed his arms and stood up. He calmly walked over to Kotetsu and simply sat on the other man's stomach.

This quieted the spiky haired chunin, and Kotetsu was about to ask what the hell Izumo thought he was doing, when Kotetsu found himself pinned by the younger man.

"What the hell!?" Kotetsu shrieked.

Izumo simply smiled. "I win. I pinned you, so I win our bet."

Kotetsu's face went from one of anger and wariness to one of disbelief and stubbornness. "You…but…"

"I win." Izumo released Kotetsu from his hold and stood up, not wanting to make Kotetsu uncomfortable.

"That was cheating!"

Izumo smirked. "I let you laugh for a good five minutes. It was your own fault that you couldn't control your second bout of laughter."

Kotetsu was about to argue, but he saw that he didn't have a good enough case. "Humph. Fine. You win, this time. I'll pay for tonight's dinner."

Izumo smiled and offered to help Kotetsu stand. Kotetsu swatted Izumo's hand away good naturedly. "But seriously, you can't blame a guy for laughing. Where did you even get those boxers, and what made you think it was a good idea to actually wear them?"

Izumo blushed slightly, turning his head away from Kotetsu's gaze. "They were a gag gift from Iruka-kun. I can't throw anything he gives me away, because he always somehow finds out about it and then pitches a fit until I promise to retrieve and use the present he gave me."

Kotetsu nodded in understanding. He was one of Iruka's friends too, and that genin really knew how to do reconnaissance. Vaguely, the two chunin wondered if Iruka was going to be recruited into T&I or ANBU for espionage work, but the thought quickly left their minds.

"Round two?" Izumo asked after he finished tying a new set of leg bindings.

Kotetsu nodded and the two chunin squared off once more.

~i~*~k~

It was late. They would have to grab a late dinner, but they needed to finish their last spar.

Izumo had improved immensely since the beginning of the week. Kotetsu used to have to go easy on him, but now Izumo was actually challenging Kotetsu every once in a while. Kotetsu was impressed at the rapid progress, but he quickly reminded himself that Izumo was an elite chunin who just happened to run out of luck recently. It wasn't like Izumo was a newly promoted chunin hoping to best an experienced one.

Izumo threw a punch to distract from the knee he was angling up to hit at Kotetsu's side. Kotetsu saw through his fake, and he managed to block both hits.

Kotetsu shoved Izumo's leg away and his arm down while bringing up his own knee. Izumo spun and Kotetsu's knee narrowly avoided colliding with Izumo's stomach.

The brown haired chunin spun back to aim a backwards kick at Kotetsu's head, but Kotetsu caught his leg. The momentum from Izumo's spin, however, was too great, and the two chunin ended up on the ground. Well, Kotetsu ended up on the ground with his back in the dirt. Izumo ended up on Kotetsu, the two being chest to chest.

Both chunin were breathing hard, and Kotetsu waited for Izumo to climb off of him. Normally, the brown-haired man was good at getting off right away, but not this time.

Kotetsu looked into Izumo's face, searching for what the chocolate haired chunin was thinking.

Glazed over eyes stared back at Kotetsu, and Kotetsu was confused before he muttered a curse.

"Kamizuki, you've got to snap out of whatever memory you're trapped in." No response. "Izumo, if you can hear me, you've got to get off of me so I can help you better." Izumo's eyes were still clouded over, trapped in whatever personal hell the other chunin was remembering. "'Zum!"

Izumo had told Ibiki and Kotetsu about these episodes when they met with Ibiki two days ago; Izumo said he noticed it after the third day of training. He had gotten to his apartment and sat down on his couch. He didn't sleep, but when he was aware of himself again, two hours had passed.

Izumo said that had been the longest blackout period. The other times it happened it had only lasted minutes, the shortest being about three.

Kotetsu was afraid of moving Izumo while he was like this because he didn't know how the other man would react. They may both be elite chunin, but Kotetsu didn't exactly have the upper hand at the moment, especially if Izumo didn't recognize him as an ally.

So, he waited. He looked into the hazed over eyes and pleaded that whatever memory was going through Izumo's mind would be short, so they could leave the training ground, eat, and rest for tomorrow's mission.

A slight grumble drew Kotetsu's attention back to focus on Izumo. Kotetsu watched as the other man dropped his head into the crook of Kotetsu's neck and nuzzled the skin and hair there. He tensed, and Izumo sighed.

"You smell so good, Ko'. I wish you'd let me be this close to you in real life…but you hate me there, don't you? You've hated me ever since Emiko. I hate that we aren't friends anymore, did you know that, Ko'? I miss you like crazy. I may act like I don't, but there's not a day that goes by that I wish I could take back everything from that day just so we could stay friends."

Kotetsu tensed slightly as he felt tears falling onto his jaw and neck. Izumo…was crying.

It broke Kotetsu's heart more than he would care to admit. Izumo had been his best friend when they were young…but…

Kotetsu shook his head as he felt Izumo's body trembling. The raven-haired man wrapped his arms around the chocolate haired man to soothe his sobs and to push away some of the awkwardness.

Izumo was clutching onto Kotetsu's uniform for dear life, and Kotetsu didn't have the heart to shake him off.

~i~*~k~

Izumo came back to himself, sobbing, trembling, and surrounded by warmth. He must still be half in his hallucination, because there were warm arms around him and a soothing voice trying to settle down his crying.

Izumo sniffed and reached up to wipe at his eyes, but he froze when his hand came into contact with skin that wasn't his.

Snapping his eyes open and looking in front of him, Izumo never felt more embarrassed in his entire life. He had just cried all over Kotetsu, and Kami-only-knows what he told Kotetsu while he was still in the memory/hallucination.

Kotetsu looked at him with something akin to pity, and Izumo couldn't take it. He tore out of Kotetsu's embrace and walked away from the other chunin.

"Forget about dinner. It wasn't a fair pin anyway. I'll see you tomorrow at the meeting place."

Kotetsu watched as Izumo gathered his things quickly, and all but ran out of the training grounds.

Inhaling a deep breath, Kotetsu breathed out one word that described everything perfectly, "Fuck."


	3. Chapter 3

O six hundred came bright and early the next day, making our chocolate haired elite chunin wish that he could find a way to get out of being a proctor. That way he wouldn't have to spend the next Kami-only-knows how long in Kumogakure with the sexy chunin that used to be his best friend and whom he cried all over only last night.

Sighing, Izumo convinced himself that it wouldn't be right to fake an illness or commit seppuku, so _pull your big boy panties on and get going to the meeting point already!_

Although, speaking of panties, Izumo most certainly double checked that he _didn't_ bring along any embarrassing ones that he had. Not that he had a lot…only a couple…okay, like seven, but he needed back up ones sometimes! Especially when his other ones were all full of holes or sliced to pieces, and he didn't have the time to mend them or the money to buy new ones.

Shaking his head clear of useless thoughts, Izumo locked up and secured his apartment and took to the rooftops to reach the meeting place. He ghosted over the buildings of Konoha, watching the shopkeepers and early risers below start their day. He envied the easiness they had about them, but that was why he was a ninja. To protect those people so that they could live an easy lifestyle.

Sighing, Izumo realized his thoughts were wandering again. Lately, Izumo realized that his mind would take off running, and his thoughts would drift away from him. It was a dangerous thing to happen, especially to a ninja, but what could he do about it? He just needed to focus more, and make sure his thoughts didn't get away from him. Particularly now that he was going on a mission.

Seeing that he was almost to the meeting place, Izumo slowed his pace and stood on the rooftop overlooking the little area they were meeting in. He was momentarily surprised at the number of people there, but then he remembered there were _six_ teams participating this year, so he felt silly at having felt surprised.

Izumo's eyes scanned the small crowd to see if he knew any of the participants. A chocolate ponytail and a slashing scar bisecting a nose flashed in Izumo's peripheral. Izumo would recognize those features anywhere. He immediately jumped off the roof and wandered over to his longtime friend. "'Ru! You didn't tell me you were going to participate in this year's exams!"

Iruka turned toward the sound of Izumo's voice and flashed Izumo a grin as soon as he saw him. Iruka pulled the other ninja into a fierce hug as soon as the elite chunin was in reach.

"Hey, 'Zum! You know I'm not going to give up on becoming a chunin! So why wouldn't I take these exams?"

Izumo hugged his friend back and chuckled. "Of course, 'Ru. I'm glad I'll be able to watch you!"

Iruka tightened his grip momentarily before unwrapping himself from Izumo's arms. Iruka stayed close, though, and looked up at Izumo with shrewd eyes. After a moment, Iruka pulled Izumo into another tight embrace.

"I've been really worried about you, Izumo. I was so relieved to hear that you had been brought back, but when I didn't see you for weeks afterward…" Iruka trailed off, his whisper getting softer as he fought to keep his emotions under control.

Guilt swept across Izumo's conscious, and he rubbed a hand soothingly along Iruka's back. "I'm very sorry for making you worry about me, 'Ru. But I'm okay. Ibiki-san is even sending me to be a proctor in the chunin exams for Kumo, so he's not too worried about me either."

Izumo felt Iruka nod his head before the teen pulled back. Tears were shining in Iruka's chocolate eyes, and concern was still evident in their warm depths. But Iruka just wiped a hand across his face, composing himself before saying, "Well, I'm glad. You'll be there when I get promoted to chunin!"

Izumo smiled weakly at Iruka's attempt to lighten the situation. He certainly did wish his friend would hurry up and be promoted. Stupid bureaucrats holding Iruka back as a genin. Out of all the chunin exams that Iruka had participated in, he had made it to the final round in all of them except for two. He was just never considered promotion ready. Izumo would definitely cheer on his friend all the way to the finals this time around.

Behind them, a cool voice drew everyone's attention to the ANBU-clad young man standing on a slightly raised platform, overlooking all the teams and proctors gathered. So, this must be the ANBU proctor then. Izumo was slightly surprised to see that the ANBU wasn't wearing his porcelain mask. Ah, but then Izumo remembered that Ibiki specifically told him that there would be an ANBU proctor. Rank and everything. _So, we can know his rank and his name, but not his code-name or his mask. Well, that makes zero sense to me,_ Izumo thought as he looked at the young ANBU member.

The ANBU member looked quite young, maybe a year older than himself and Kotetsu. A quiet gasp escaped his lips as realization dawned on who exactly it was on that platform.

Friend-killer Kakashi.

Well, shit.

Iruka looked at Izumo, confused about his change in demeanor, but Izumo just waved Iruka's concern away. He could tell Iruka all about it later.

"…is that clear?" Oops. Izumo missed everything friend-killer Kakashi had said. Ah, well he could always ask Iruka if it was anything too important.

Izumo glanced over at his friend and noticed the wide-blown pupils in Iruka's eyes as he watched the young ANBU member on the platform. Izumo shook Iruka's shoulder, causing Iruka to focus on reality and look at Izumo. Izumo slowly shook his head, indicating Iruka did not want to get involved with that guy on stage. Iruka's eyebrows furrowed downward, but he nodded, indicating that he would listen to Izumo about it…for now.

The two turned their attention back to the ANBU member and listened for further instructions.

 **~i~*~k~**

Since the group was quite large, they were sectioned off into two different groups and each group would leave through a different gate and take a different route to get to Kumo; just in case any other nations got it in their heads to try and eliminate the competition preemptively.

The first group would be compromised of three genin teams, one jonin squad leader, and the proctors. They would leave through the northern gate, since it was the shortest route to Kumogakure, and the proctors needed to get there early. The second group would be compromised of the other three genin teams, and the five remaining jonin squad leaders. They would leave through the eastern gate, and arrive at the Hidden Cloud Village a day or two before check in day was scheduled.

The groups were sectioned off like so to maintain a balance of power for each group. If either group were attacked by other nations, then they had a decent chance at defending themselves.

Luckily for Izumo, Iruka's squad was traveling with the proctors through the northern gate. The only bad thing about this was Iruka's squad leader was assigned to the other group leaving from the eastern gate, so any extra tutelage Iruka had hoped to get on the journey from his jonin sensei was squashed.

Well, Izumo didn't think that he and Iruka sparring to keep in shape on the journey would cause any trouble, especially since they calculated about two full days of rest into their travel plans.

Who knows maybe Kotetsu would join them.

Izumo looked over at the spiky haired chunin who was chatting with a female genin they had gone to the academy with. She was a late promotion too, being in almost the same boat as Iruka. They were good but not recognizably good enough.

Izumo sighed wearily. Who was he kidding himself? Kotetsu wouldn't join them willingly. In fact, the spiky haired teen had been pointedly ignoring Izumo all morning, and Izumo did not want to be the one to break the ice first. If Kotetsu wanted to talk about what had occurred last night at the end of their sparring match, then he could come to Izumo first. Better to just ignore him and stay in Iruka's company. At least he was wanted there.

Nodding to himself, Izumo turned to chat amiably with Iruka as their group took off toward the northern gate to exit the village and leave their home behind them.

 **~i~*~k~**

Izumo looked over at Iruka with a slight blush coloring his cheeks. "Why would you say that?"

Iruka shrugged, not noticing his friend's discomfort. "I don't know. It just seems to make sense to me, is all."

Izumo shook his head. "No way. No freaking way, 'Ru."

Iruka flashed him a smile then, but he let the subject drop.

Izumo had just been explaining to Iruka about the incident that occurred with Mizuki. He had wondered aloud why Kotetsu seemed to defend him readily against Mizuki, and Iruka had offered the explanation that maybe Kotetsu wanted to be friends with Izumo again. Or maybe Kotetsu has always felt protective of Izumo.

Izumo couldn't wrap his brain around Iruka's suggestion, so he let that perspective drop. He didn't need any more things weighing on his mind. He still needed to recover from his capture; and while Izumo could deal with torture and a one-sided crush, he would not be able to deal with a confusing Kotetsu added to the mix. Kotetsu hated Izumo, plain and simple. If anything, Kotetsu defended Izumo because he hated Mizuki more than he hated Izumo. That was all.

"We'll stop here for the night." Friend-killer Kakashi's voice sent a chill racing up Izumo's spine. He was immensely grateful that Kakashi seemed to keep to himself for the most part, and he didn't try to ingratiate himself to the others in the group.

Although, Izumo hoped to high heaven that Iruka would stop looking at Kakashi like that. Iruka was Izumo's friend, and he didn't want the poor teen to get tangled up with a dangerous ninja like Hatake Kakashi.

Izumo had hinted as much at Iruka, but Iruka seemed content to ignore any of Izumo's pleas.

After setting their packs down and stretching a bit to relieve their sore muscles, the chocolate haired pair decided to pitch a couple of tents. They were about to start their task when Kotetsu walked over to them and leaned his arm on Iruka's shoulder. "Hey, 'Ru. Got a crush?"

Iruka's face lit up like a Chinese lantern, and Izumo couldn't help but feel sorry for Iruka as he stuttered out, "C...c…crush? Who? Me? A crush? Come on, Ko', that's ridiculous!" His denial wasn't reinforced as his dark eyes skittered over to Kakashi before landing back on Kotetsu.

Kotetsu got a kick out of Iruka's reaction and laughed heartily before calming himself down. "Ah, 'Ru! That's so sweet!" Kotetsu's glee was cut short, however, as he straightened and leaned toward Iruka. In a low voice that Izumo could barely hear, Kotetsu said, "'Ru, be careful, okay? Just focus on passing the chunin exams. Don't get tangled up in something with him."

Iruka got a serious look on his face as Kotetsu finished speaking. "Ko', I appreciate the concern, but I've been looking after myself for about five years now. So, thanks for the advice, but I don't need it." Izumo winced at the tone of dismissal Iruka's voice had to it.

But Izumo also thought Kotetsu was right, so he added what he was thinking. "'Ru, we're just worried for you, okay? Surely you know about him–"

"I do. But you know what? Those are rumors. And really? Believing in village gossip? You two should be ashamed!" Iruka turned on his heel and walked away from the two elite chunin, forgetting about pitching a tent for the moment. Both young men winced. If Iruka was ever promoted to chunin, he would make an excellent sensei, going by the tone of voice he just used to shame the two of them.

Kotetsu shook his head. "I feel kind of bad, harassing Iruka like that, but I just worry about him."

Izumo nodded his head in agreement. "I don't blame you. Especially…well, you know. We'll just keep an eye on him. Hopefully, he'll focus on the exams instead of anything else."

With a silent agreement between the two, they began to help the rest of the group set up camp.

 **~i~*~k~**

Izumo back flipped away from Iruka, who was still trying to capture Izumo in a barrier seal. Izumo figured that as long as he kept moving, Iruka wouldn't be able to succeed.

Honestly, Izumo was having quite a tough time keeping ahead of Iruka. The two were just sparring, but it was wearing him out already. And, admittedly, Iruka had gotten a lot better since the last time Izumo had sparred with him. It made Izumo proud, but also exhausted.

A slap on the back halted Izumo, and he froze in the crouched position he had landed in. Moving his eyes upward, Izumo saw Iruka's clone grinning down at him.

Izumo groaned. "You beat me, 'Ru!"

Iruka grinned and dispelled his clone. He walked over to Izumo and released the seal that he had put onto Izumo's back. It was a seal of movement restriction.

Izumo fell back onto his butt and looked up at Iruka. "Sometimes, I forget that you used to regularly prank Lord Hokage and get away with it."

Iruka laughed and plopped down next to Izumo. His breathing was ragged, Izumo noted with slight satisfaction. "Yeah, a lot of people forget that. I think he let me get away with it, though. I wasn't nearly as good then as I am now, and I realize how many mistakes I used to make in all of those pranks."

Izumo nodded solemnly. He remembered times from his past when he could point out something he would've done differently now that he had more experience.

"Thank you for sparring with me, 'Zum. Sensei told me I would need to practice more before the exams began, and you offering to help me was a great relief to me."

Izumo nodded and pulled Iruka into a one-armed hugged. They were quite affectionate with each other because they had been friends for a really long time. "Thank you for not going lightly on me just because I'm still supposed to be 'recuperating'."

Iruka nodded and gave Izumo a one-armed hug back. "We'll both benefit from this, so why not?"

"Oi, you two, time to sleep." The jonin-sensei from the third group called out to them as he went on guard duty.

The two looked at each other and jumped up. They raced each other to their tent. Izumo got there a fraction of a second before Iruka. "Beat ya!"

Iruka laughed and nodded. "Fair and square."

The two grinned at each other before settling down for the night. It was a little crowded in the tent, considering that Izumo, Kotetsu, Iruka, and Iruka's male teammate all had to fit in one tent, but it wasn't that unmanageable.

Izumo just made sure to have a spot close to the tent opening in case he needed to leave quickly and quietly.

 **~i~*~k~**

Izumo woke up in a cold sweat, his body shuddering violently, and his breathing harsh in his own ears. He glanced around and made sure that no one had woken up because of him. When he saw that everyone was still asleep, he rose quietly and walked out of the tent.

He shivered in the chill of the night air, but he didn't want to risk going back into the tent for a blanket to keep his body warm. He figured he needed to force himself awake anyway, before the nightmares returned to him.

He had been dreaming of his skin blistering after being exposed to the heat from a fire jutsu. It happened early in his torture, but he had gotten infected, so his captors had refrained from using such techniques during the course of the next few weeks he had been with them. They didn't want him to get an infection and die. They wanted information from him, so they made sure not to break skin with the rest of their techniques.

A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold passed through Izumo's frame. He wandered over to the tree line and vomited quietly into the bushes. His memories weren't always easy on him, but he was glad just to be in his right state of mind at the moment.

A noise to his left alerted him of a visitor, and he wondered why no one would just leave him alone about these memories.

He was thoroughly surprised to see none other than friend-killer Kakashi standing off to his side with a carefully blank look in his eye.

"Maa…" The ANBU member ran a hand through his hair and looked at Izumo directly. "A couple of years ago, I was captured by a couple of sand shinobi. They were looking for information that had to do with my mission, so I was kept alive in case I would tell them anything. They tortured me endlessly for a couple weeks before my team located me and got me out of the sadistic bastards' hands."

A faraway look took over Kakashi's eye, and Izumo thought he had checked out of the conversation; so, when he spoke again, Izumo was slightly startled. "I still have nightmares about what they did to me. But they aren't as bad or as frequent as they used to be. I won't tell you it gets better or worse, because everyone is different, but it seems like you're dealing with it all fairly well."

Izumo nodded. "It…thank you, Hatake-san. Someone of your standing complimenting me really means a lot."

Kakashi's eye arched into a happy arc. "Maa, Izumo-san, don't be so formal. People of my standing usually let too much respect go to their heads. I know I used to."

A pause as Kakashi seemed to think about his next words. "Ibiki…has taken note of how you are dealing with the trauma of the situation you were put in. And I believe this is his way of giving you a vacation. Lord Third wanted you to have a month off for rest and recuperation, but with you proctoring the chunin exams, that will give you about two months for rest and recuperation while also keeping your skills honed because you won't be at home. Ibiki may be unconventional sometimes, but he knows what he's doing. He thinks you're a valuable operative; otherwise, he would let you slack off more. Take this proctoring mission as his way of saying that he cares about you."

Izumo was surprised at the sincerity of the words Kakashi used with him. It seemed that Kakashi knew Ibiki well, and while that didn't surprise Izumo, the fact that Kakashi wanted Izumo to understand Ibiki's thinking certainly let Izumo know that maybe Kakashi wasn't randomly assigned to this mission either.

"Thank you, Hata…ah…Kakashi-san. I will remember your words."

Kakashi's eye arched into that happy arc again. "Maa, thank you, Izumo-san. Now try and get some rest. Your body will need it for tomorrow's journey."

With a flicker, Kakashi was gone – probably back to guarding the surrounding area.

Izumo took several deep breaths. He was going to hold himself together. He was going to fight and work through this. And he was going to be stronger when he overcame this.

Izumo grabbed his canteen, washed his mouth out, and returned to his tent - fully intent on getting rest for the remainder of the night.

His last thought before drifting off into sleep was that friend-killer Kakashi didn't seem as cold and ruthless as his nickname made him out to be.

 **~i~*~k~**

 **Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!**

 **~VBS~**


	4. Chapter 4

Four days later saw the team of Konohagakure ninja arriving at the entrance of Kumogakure. They had traveled leisurely and didn't come upon any trouble. Izumo would say that their trip was almost too easy, but he wasn't going to complain now that they were at their destination safe and in one piece.

Kakashi took the responsibility of signing them in as proctors, and the jonin sensei signed in the three teams. Once they had their papers and passes all in order, they were allowed within the gates of the Hidden Cloud Village.

Signs were put up all around the village directing which areas foreigners were allowed to be in and which areas they weren't. Izumo made sure to take note so he wouldn't accidentally wander into a restricted area and get into trouble for being in the wrong place. Kakashi and the jonin sensei made sure the genin all knew the restricted places as well. It wouldn't do any good to have any disputes between villages just because someone ended up in the wrong area.

The group checked into the rooms that had been reserved at an inn close to where most of the exams were going to be taking place. Once they were all settled, Kakashi rounded up Izumo and Kotetsu and the three of them ventured toward the administrative buildings of the Hidden Cloud to find out how proctoring the chunin exams was going to work here.

Kakashi had donned regular issued clothing before they had arrived in Kumogakure, and Izumo suspected that no one was supposed to know he was ANBU status. All the better then. If someone underestimated them, they would have the advantage of surprise.

The three of them kept close together, and Izumo found it oddly comforting that Kakashi had spoken with him that night he'd been plagued with nightmares. He didn't feel as uneasy as he used to around Kakashi, and he figured that was better if they were to be together a lot for the next few weeks.

Kotetsu had noticed Izumo's ease around Kakashi a couple days ago, and, surprisingly, he had asked Izumo about it. Izumo had simply replied that Kakashi had helped him out one night. Kotetsu must have understood that Izumo was having nightmares, and Kakashi must have talked with him about it. Since then, Kotetsu seemed more relaxed around Kakashi but not any less wary.

However, this newfound ease didn't mean that they were going to let Iruka get distracted by Kakashi. Even if Kakashi hadn't taken notice of Iruka at all, they weren't going to let their friend become distracted and lose his chance at becoming a chunin this time around.

It was about damn time that Iruka caught up to them already.

Upon arriving at the administrative buildings of Kumo, they were directed to a building a few blocks away. There, they had a Cloud ninja lead them to a designated meeting room. The three leaf ninja stepped into a fairly big room with theater style seating and desks in front of each seat. Kakashi wandered over to the far right in the back, and Kotetsu and Izumo followed suit. They looked to be early, as there were only a few other shinobi in this room at all.

The three sat in relative silence, observing the other occupants of the room. Over the next hour, more and more shinobi trickled in, and soon the room was half full. At the front of the room, a rather large man with off-white, almost yellow tinged, hair walked through a door and up to a podium placed in the center of the front of the room.

He cleared his throat for silence before beginning to speak.

"Welcome, shinobi. The Hidden Cloud Village thanks you for volunteering your time to help proctor the chunin exams. This year for the chunin exams, we are going to do things a little differently than the last few exams. As you all well know, this is the first time the Hidden Cloud has held an important political event such as these exams since the Third Great Ninja War ended not quite a decade ago.

"To reassure your trust in our village and its leadership, the exams this year won't have the brutality that they held before the Third Shinobi War. This year, we are going to test these specific skills in our exams: infiltration, group combat, espionage, survival, and one on one combat.

"The layout of the exams looks like this." A screen descended from the ceiling behind the large man, and Izumo's eyes skimmed over the information. Round one: espionage and infiltration. Round two: group combat. Round three: teamwork and survival. Round four: one on one combat. "The overseers of the chunin exams have figured that these four rounds should take place over a series of seven to eight weeks. Our longest round will be round three. Our longest rest period will be between rounds three and four. Any questions?"

A Kumo ninja raised her hand. The man nodded to her, and she cleared her throat. "Lord Fourth, why do we need so many proctors? And proctors from other nations nonetheless."

The man at the front of the room smiled. "Ah, yes. Where do you guys come in? Allow me introduce our head proctors for each exam." Four people filed in from the same door the Fourth Raikage came in through. "Everyone, meet Darui, B, C, and Yugito."

In his peripheral, Izumo saw Kakashi tense slightly, but for the life of him, Izumo had no idea what for.

"Each one of these individuals has my extreme confidence in their capabilities. Each of you will be split up for different rounds, where you will work exclusively under one of these individuals until it is time for your round to play out. After hearing how each of them will conduct their own round, you will figure out why we need so many proctors." Here, the man turned to look at the only female in the group. "Yugito, take it over from here."

Yugito bowed, "Of course, Lord Raikage." When she straightened, she stepped up to the podium and glanced across the room. "I will be the proctor for the first round. When I call your name, you will come forward and follow me. I will not discuss any more about my round in front of everybody, because I do not trust you to not tell your subordinates or colleagues about how my round will work. I will say that my round is meant to eliminate most of the weaklings. Now, come forward…Iwashi…Kohaku…"

Izumo half listened to her listing off names. He wasn't called, and he was glad. She seemed a little scary…or maybe intense was the right word. Anyway, he turned to Kotetsu and Kakashi. "Does this mean we are to be separated?"

Kakashi gave a slight nod as Kotetsu said, "it seems so…"

Izumo inhaled a steady breath and released it quietly. Realistically, he knew that he wouldn't be able to stay with both Konoha shinobi when their mission as proctors began, but he had held out for hope that they wouldn't be separated so soon. Ah, well, he'd just have to cope. Like he was doing with everything else.

Darui was the next person to step forward. "Alright…when I call your name, come forward. Try to hustle and not be so dull." Izumo had to smile at the bored look on Darui's face. He would certainly be an interesting person to work with, if nothing else.

Surprisingly, Kakashi was called forward for this round. Kakashi turned to them and gave them a curved eye smile. "That'll be me. Good luck you two, and keep on your toes." Izumo watched Kakashi's back as it got further and further away from them, and closer to the front of the room.

When Darui was finished, C was the next one to step forward.

Kotetsu grabbed Izumo's attention, "Hey, if we're separated, I want you to have your communicator on at all times. Ibiki would kill me if he knew that I won't be able to be at your side during most of the time we have here."

Izumo nodded slowly. "Ah, yes. I'll be tuned into the usual frequency."

Kotetsu nodded his head firmly. "Good."

"Kamizuki." Izumo turned his head toward the front of the room. Looks like he will be a proctor for the third round. He stood up slowly and gave a nervous wave to Kotetsu before descending the steps toward his group.

Before his group left the room completely, Izumo heard Kotetsu's name being called as a proctor for the fourth round.

 **~i~*~k~**

Kotetsu leaned his head back and basked in the sunlight of midafternoon. Kumogakure was higher up in the mountains than anywhere in Fire Country territory, and Kotetsu loved being able to feel the sun so clearly on his skin.

His round would be the fourth round: one-on-one combat. Killer B, that's how his head proctor introduced himself, said that they pretty much had free time until after round three concluded, considering they didn't know how many genin were going to make it to the final round. Well…he didn't exactly say that…he more rapped it.

"Yo, yo! Listen up! This is how it's going to go! Round four don't start till round three is wrapped up, so get out the door and relax some more! See ya after three, where ya'll will meet up with me to oversee the young genin's fighting in the ring. Yeah!"

That's exactly what Killer B had…rhymed, so Kotetsu figured he didn't have any responsibilities until after round three wrapped up. He had wanted to see what Kakashi and Izumo were currently doing, but neither of their meetings had finished yet, so Kotetsu was content to just wait outside for them to be done.

Sighing, Kotetsu slid down the building's wall until his butt made contact with the ground. He almost envied the other two. At least they had something to concentrate on for a while. Him? Well, he was stuck with thinking and overthinking things because he didn't have anything else to do to distract him.

As he sat there in the midafternoon sun, his thoughts trailed off to think about a certain someone that had been invading his head since their last sparring match…Izumo.

That guy…really got under his skin. Sometimes in a good way, like when he supported Kotetsu's opinion of Iruka's interest in Kakashi, but mostly Izumo got under Kotetsu's skin in a bad way. Kotetsu was still freaking pissed that he had to babysit Izumo, but…he couldn't find it in himself to hate his mission anymore.

Sure, he still greatly loathed Izumo, but what Kotetsu realized this past week was that Izumo was seriously damaged. Not just physically and mentally, but emotionally as well.

That last sparring match had ended quite abruptly after Izumo's episode, and the two hadn't talked about it at all. Kotetsu wanted to approach Izumo about the subject and ask what his deal was, but he didn't want to bring other people's attention to any issues Izumo may be having because they were on a mission, and if Kakashi saw it fit to pull Izumo out, he would. In fact, Ibiki had specifically mentioned to Kotetsu that Kakashi was directed by the Hokage to pull Izumo from the mission if he became compromised. Which meant that Kotetsu would have to see Izumo home, and both of them would have a blemish on their records because they weren't able to finish their mission.

Kotetsu sighed and dropped his head back against the building's wall behind him. The brick was warm after soaking up the sun's rays, and Kotetsu reveled in its heat while he could feel it.

He would just have to make sure that Izumo was alright. This being separated bullshit was going to make his job harder on him, but he should be able to manage it.

"There you are! Konoha shinobi-san, please hurry!"

Kotetsu glanced up at the Hidden Cloud ninja. He looked like a newly promoted chunin, by how young he was. Probably hadn't been in the service more than a year. "What is it?"

"Your teammate, Kamizuki-san…"

Kotetsu was on his feet in an instant. "Take me there."

Kotetsu could feel adrenaline pump through his veins as the youngster led him through the building to where Izumo's meeting was being held.

 **~i~*~k~**

"How do you like that, huh?" A punch connected with Izumo's jaw, making his head fly sideways and connect against the wall behind him with a crack. "Why don't you tell us your name, hmm?" Pressure, like someone stepping down, was building up on his ankle. "It'll make the pain go away." Izumo felt more pressure being applied to his ankle. If they didn't stop soon, it was going to…

 _SNAP!_

Pain laced up and down Izumo's leg, and his scream drowned out the sickening crunch of his ankle where the bone had just snapped under too much pressure. He could still feel the point of breaking, and it made him nauseated. He emptied up what was left in his stomach onto the floor beside him.

"Little effeminate bitch. Do you like pain?" A kick to his leg. "You must, since you're not talking." He was lying on the ground now, being kicked in the stomach. "Tell me, do you beg your boyfriend to take you dry? Surely, you're the uke." A fierce connection between foot and chest, and Izumo felt pain explode everywhere. "Fuckin' pussy."

Izumo tuned out the harsh words the Mist ninja was using to insult him with. He had no idea how the ninja knew that he was gay. It's not like he told them anything. Vaguely, his mind supplied him with the answer that this particular ninja must think he was too feminine to be straight. He was the only Mist ninja to degrade Izumo verbally in such a way, so Izumo's mind deduced that either the Mist ninja was gay, a homophobe, or just deluded by Izumo's appearance.

With an odd amount of displacement, Izumo's mind supplied the thought that while he had feminine features, it did not mean he was the uke. He's never even had a boyfriend, and when he fantasized about having one and having sex, they took turns. But really, why was he thinking about such things when he was being tortured?

-"Dammit, Kamizuki! Fuckin' listen to me!"

Izumo froze and became aware of himself when someone started shaking his shoulders violently. Blinking back the dark around his vision, Izumo realized he was on the floor of an unfamiliar room with Kotetsu in front of him, jerking his shoulders violently. "Thank Kami, you're awake."

Taking a deep, calming breath, Izumo removed Kotetsu's hands off of his shoulders and slowly began to sit up. A hand on his chest had him shooting a questioning look at a blond ninja that he hadn't bothered looking at before.

"I wouldn't advise you to do that. I'm a medical ninja for the Hidden Cloud. I want to check you over before you get up. You fell pretty hard when you passed out."

Izumo blinked slowly to comprehend the healer's words. "Ah…of course."

The blond medic ninja's hands glowed green before sweeping over Izumo's head and down his body. After a few minutes, the medic drew his hands back and looked at Izumo. "Everything seems to be okay right now. If you have any headaches, migraines, or blackouts again though, come and talk to me about them. Is this the first time this has happened?"

Izumo went to sit up again after shooting the medic a questioning look. When he nodded, Izumo slowly sat up with Kotetsu's help. "Ah…yes. I've never passed out before like this."

The medic…C, Izumo suddenly realized, startled that he hadn't recognized his head proctor right away, nodded his head. "Can you remember what you were doing before it happened?"

Izumo became aware of Kotetsu's intense gaze on him. It made it harder for him to think. "…Ah…I believe I was feeling dizzy. I'm not used to this altitude…"

C's eyes lighted in acknowledgement. "Of course! Altitude sickness. Everyone reacts differently, although most react with nausea and dizziness. Fainting spells can occur though. I can give you a prescription for the duration of your stay here. Just don't pass out when we're proctoring okay?"

Izumo wasn't sure, but C's last question had a hint of a joke somewhere in its depths. Izumo agreed with a smile and allowed Kotetsu to help him stand.

"Thank goodness your teammate could wake you up. I thought we would have to admit you!" C laughed weakly before lightly grabbing Izumo's shoulder. "Now, under my code of conduct, I would treat you to the best of my abilities, but that doesn't mean every Cloud shinobi holds my code of conduct, so just make sure to take care of yourself and don't go to the hospital while you are here. Come to me if any more dizziness occurs, and I will try to help you."

Izumo agreed once more and allowed C to go back to the front of the room to finish briefing on their portion of the exam. They had almost been finished briefing when Izumo had been caught in the memory, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember what had triggered it.

Kotetsu's arm was still supporting him, and Izumo flashed him a questioning look.

Kotetsu looked around the room discreetly before leaning in closer to whisper in Izumo's ear. "That wasn't altitude sickness, was it? It was a hallucination?"

Izumo closed his eyes and slightly lowered his head. Leave it to Kotetsu to know what was up. "Ah…yeah. I don't remember why it happened. I've noticed that usually, there's a trigger. Something I think, see, hear, smell, or feel can set it off. I've been able to suppress them for a little while, getting enough time to excuse myself to the bathroom or something, but this time…I've never had a reaction that bad. It was so real…"

Izumo's lips barely moved as he was recounting all of this to Kotetsu, and he had picked his head up to pretend to be listening to the briefing. It was why his eyes were scanning the crowd around them and not looking at Kotetsu or C. It was also why he saw what had set off his reaction.

His body tensed visibly, his breath caught in his throat, and all of his senses screamed at him to either fight or flee.

Standing some ways away from them in the small room was the same mist ninja that had called him a uke.

 **~i~*~k~**

Kotetsu was still holding onto Izumo to support his frame in the hopes that if Izumo did have another reaction, he wouldn't fall to the floor and draw more attention to himself. His grip on Izumo was probably the only reason that Kotetsu noticed his teammate tensing up like an animal cornered.

Kotetsu glanced around the room to find out where Izumo was looking when he spotted the Mist ninja that Izumo's eyes were glued on. Mentally cursing, Kotetsu adjusted his hold on Izumo and pulled the other chunin closer to him.

That was probably the reason for his episode earlier then. He had seen this guy's headband, and bad memories had sprung up to the forefront of his mind. Kotetsu was quite impressed that Izumo's memories were enough to knock him out, but he was also concerned that this would further complicate their mission.

If Izumo froze up every time he saw a Mist hitai ate, how was he going to proctor these exams? Nearly every nation had sent a group of genin to participate in the chunin exams this year, Mist included. Izumo had better get his shit together; otherwise, Kakashi was going to send them back.

After Kotetsu had drawn Izumo closer to him, Izumo visibly relaxed, but his muscles remained coiled in the fight or flight instinct. Kotetsu was just glad he wasn't going to pass out on him.

Up front, C wrapped up his explanation and told them that they were going to meet up after the first round was complete to talk specifics. When the second round was complete, they would start delegating assignments, and finishing their prep for the third round. With that said, C dismissed the proctors under his command.

Izumo was nearly out the door before Kotetsu even turned to leave, and he had to run to catch up to his teammate. "Kamizuki, where's the fire?"

Izumo shook his head fiercely and kept speed walking until the motel came into sight. He glanced behind Kotetsu, let out a sigh of relief, and finally slowed his gait.

"What the hell was that about?" Kotetsu demanded, placing his hand on Izumo's shoulder and forcing Izumo to stop walking.

Izumo glanced away nervously. "Wh…what are you talking about?"

"Ah, hell no. Tell me what the fuck you were freaking out about in there right now. I saw the guy with the Mist hitai ate. Don't you dare tell me that his headband freaked you out enough that it caused you to pass out in the middle of a freaking debriefing!"

Izumo looked away, frowning deeply. "His name is…Wani Nagisa. He…. he was one of my tormentors."

Kotetsu tried to breathe in, but as soon as the words registered in his brain, his breath was cut off. "Did he see you? Did he recognize you?"

Izumo turned to look at him with an irritated glare. "He most definitely saw me because I passed out in the middle of a freaking debriefing."

Kotetsu winced slightly as his words were thrown back at him. He felt like a fool that he had assumed Izumo passed out because of the hitai ate. It just never occurred to him that one of Izumo's capturers would be _here_ of all places.

"I'm an asshole, I get it. But if you're in danger, we need to–"

"No! We don't need to do anything." Izumo stepped away from Kotetsu and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I can handle this. I don't need to go back to Konoha with my tail between my legs. Besides, if he tries to pull anything on Kumo territory, it would start a war between Lightning and Mist. I'll be safe."

"What about your mental health?" Kotetsu felt like it was a low blow, but he couldn't leave a comrade in danger just because of something silly like pride.

It took a long while for Izumo to answer, but answer he did. "I'll be fine. I was caught off guard. But now that I know he's here, I can mentally prepare myself for seeing him."

"I don't like this. Not one bit. The least we can do is request for you to switch rounds. You could switch with me, or Hatake-san."

"NO!" Izumo turned and grabbed Kotetsu's arm so tightly, Kotetsu had a feeling it would leave a bruise. "We cannot bring attention to this. If Kakashi-san gets word of this, then he will surely send me home. I heard Ibiki warn you that Lord Hokage sent Kakashi-san to make sure I would go home if this mission was too much for me. I'm not a weakling. Ibiki has put his trust in me that I will be able to handle this mission. Please don't send me home before I can prove my worth."

Kotetsu jerked slightly at Izumo's tone. It had a desperate begging quality to it that Kotetsu didn't like hearing, not one bit. "…I'm not saying that I'm agreeing with you about this…but if you have another episode like today, I will tell Hatake-san. And if this Wani guy tries anything, and I mean anything, even if it's just friendly talking, you tell me immediately. I want your receiver set on you at all times. Your microphone is on whenever we are not together, and you damn well better tell me if you have another episode while we are apart."

Izumo's look of relief was something that sent a jolt of emotion through Kotetsu. "One chance. That's all you're getting."

Izumo nodded. "I won't disappoint you. I promise."

Kotetsu nodded sharply and began walking toward their motel again.

 **~i~*~k~**

 **Hi guys! It's come to my attention that there may be some confusion about age. Izumo and Kotetsu are 18 – 19 years old in this fic. Iruka's 15 – 16, and Kakashi's 20 – 21.**

 **What'd you think of this last chapter? Be honest!**

 **Thank you for reading :)**

 **~VBS~**


	5. Chapter 5

Silence surrounded Izumo. Darkness enveloped him. But it was okay. This kind of darkness was familiar. It was…comforting. Taking a deep breath, Izumo focused inward, feeling the air expand his lungs – knowing that his body was being replenished with the oxygen it needed. He felt his blood pumping through his veins, giving him a reassurance that he was still alive.

Next, he focused on his muscles, relaxing them, coaxing them to relieve the unnecessary tension they held onto. He imagined that his entire body would relax to the point of dissolving; sinking into the ground beneath him, where he would then connect with the underground water ways that were sure to be there - however scarce they may be in this country.

A series of howls drew Izumo's attention away from his meditative state. He opened his eyes and reached out with his senses. He tentatively found small bursts of animal chakra of the canine origin. Wolves maybe…or dogs?

Frowning slightly, Izumo decided that it was time to head back to the motel. He wouldn't be able to rest, it was the full moon tonight, but he would at least be a degree safer inside than outside if it came to wild animals sniffing around here.

Jumping off the boulder he had been perched upon, Izumo walked quietly back to the hidden village. Tomorrow would be his turn to proctor, and he was ready for it.

The first and second rounds had passed with ease, with the first round eliminating over half of the participants, and the second round breaking up the teams for the third round.

Iruka and one of his teammates, along with one other Konoha genin had made it to the third round. Izumo had confidence that Iruka was going to pass the third round with ease like he did the previous two, and move onto the fourth round for a shot at becoming a chunin.

Izumo hummed slightly, remembering the events of the first and second rounds.

The first round had certainly been tough if one was used to not thinking for themselves and were only used to following orders. The participants had been sectioned off into their regular squads, minus their jonin sensei, so a unit of three. Each squad had been given an envelope and had been told to protect it with their lives. They had also been given the instruction to not open the envelope.

The catch? To understand how the first round worked, the squad would have needed to open the envelope. Inside the envelope was a piece of paper that contained information that was vital for completing the first round. Any teams who did not open their envelope had automatically been set up to fail.

And that was only the beginning. The end goal of the first exam was to locate and infiltrate a building in this empty outlier town. Clues were scattered around the town as to which building it was, and proctors for the first round were scattered (in disguise) around this building. If any team was caught by a proctor entering the building, they did not pass. And the entire team had to make it into the building or they would not qualify for the second round.

The second round was group combat. Genin squad vs genin squad. According to Kakashi, it was entertaining to watch. According to Iruka, it was grueling to endure. This was also the round where the teams started to dissolve. It may have been group combat, but the only thing that mattered was who was left. Each fight was given a limit of 10 minutes. Anyone left standing after 10 minutes passed for the next round. If anyone had fallen before the 10 minute mark, they were disqualified. So, it amazed Izumo that sixteen participants had managed to pass the second round.

And tomorrow began the start of round three. Izumo sighed and opened the door to his room. Kotetsu was snoring quietly in bed already, and Izumo was careful not to wake him up. Ever since Wani Nagisa had appeared over a week ago, Kotetsu had been glued to Izumo's side; and while Izumo certainly didn't mind it, he needed some room to breathe every once in a while. Because he knew the only reason Kotetsu stayed close to him was because of Ibiki's order for Kotetsu to make sure Izumo could complete this mission.

Closing his eyes, Izumo took another deep breath. Once it was all released, he relaxed down into the mattress and closed his eyes again. He tried returning to the meditative state he had achieved earlier, but Kotetsu's soft snores kept breaking his concentration. Finally, he forewent the meditation and decided to let his mind wander.

From what he knew, the remaining participants in the chunin exams included three Konoha genin, six Kumogakure genin, four Kirigakure genin, two Sunagakure genin, and one Iwagakure genin.

That would surely make the next round interesting. C, Izumo's head proctor, had explained a couple of days ago how round three was going to work.

Two genin, each from a different village, will be paired with a set of proctors. For example, a Sunagakure genin is partnered with a Kirigakure genin, a Sunagakure proctor, and a Kumogakure proctor. This team of four will need to enter and navigate a vast cave system. The genin will be fighting for their lives, while the proctors are there to lend a hand if and only if a death is to occur.

C explained that this round was set up this way because when the nations agreed to let Kumogakure host the chunin exams this year, there was a strict rule that none of the participants could die; otherwise, the nations would see it as an act of war initiated by Kumogakure, which the Fourth Raikage wanted to avoid. Kumogakure was, after all, still hurting from the Third Great Ninja War. The Fourth Raikage probably needed to host the chunin exams at any cost, because he needed to bring in money quickly, efficiently, and legally.

A particularly loud snore erupted from across the room and jerked Izumo back to the present. Early morning sunlight was streaming in through the windows. Izumo sat up and stretched. He decided that trying to meditate for any longer wasn't going to be conducive, so he might as well start his day now.

He got out of bed, grabbed a change of clothes and a towel, and headed down to the communal bath for a bit of washing up before his busy day would officially begin.

 **~i~*~k~**

"Umino Iruka. Kiri Asa. Please step forward." The two chunin candidates walked forward and stopped before C. "Kamizuki Izumo. Nagisa Wani. Proctors, meet the two contenders you will need to keep alive for the next week."

As C turned to call out the rest of the competitors, Izumo stood stalk still until Iruka's voice piped up, "So what exactly is this third round about? He hardly explained anything to us. Just that'd we be a team."

Iruka's voice pulled him out of his frozen state, but he couldn't think clearly enough to answer the genin's question. With a muttered apology to excuse himself, Izumo started to walk down a path leading away from the contenders and proctors. Fuck, he needed a drink.

Preferably before Kotetsu beat him to a pulp for this.

Of all the rotten luck, Izumo just had to have this happen. Did he torture children in a past life? Kick puppies? Or was this because of…Emiko?

Pushing a hand through his hair while grabbing his bandana to prevent it from falling to the ground, Izumo had to admit that someone upstairs recently found out about something that they didn't like. And they decided that they just had to punish Izumo in any way possible.

A hand landing lightly on his arm jerked Izumo back to the present. Once he realized it was Iruka, he relaxed slightly and dropped the fist that had unconsciously formed.

"Congrats on making it this far, little Ru-ru." The teasing tone in his voice sounded hollow, even to his own ears.

Iruka frowned and made Izumo look at him directly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing I can't handle on my own. Trust me, you don't want to be involved in the middle of this. Do you have any questions about the third round?"

Iruka worked his jaw, like he was itching to say more, but he finally let out a long sigh. "Just…uh, why do we need to work with a competitor from a different village? I mean, we could just as easily work with our own teammates, or even just someone from the same village."

Izumo smiled slightly and turned Iruka to look at all the other contenders. "Take a look at them and tell me what you notice."

After a moment, it seemed that understanding dawned in Iruka's eyes. "Allies."

Izumo nodded. "Precisely. Even as genin, you know which villages are allied and which are not. It may not be a conscious decision, but if or when you are paired with an ally shinobi, you will need to know how to work with them to complete the task set before you. As you noticed, the competitors who were paired with another contender from an ally nation are already talking and planning. Forming a basis for teamwork. Now look at us. We were paired with a contender from a…we'll go with the word 'hostile' nation. Already, we don't trust them, so we don't want them to find out more about us than we need them to know."

Iruka's head bobbing was a tad bit distracting until Izumo noticed Nagisa and Kiri walking toward them. "Speak of the devil…" Izumo muttered quietly before schooling his features into flawless professionalism.

"Kamizuki. Umino. We believe it best to plan out the next few days before we set foot inside the cave system. Since we need to come out on the other side of the mountain, we need to figure out if there are tunnels, and how to navigate them safely and quickly so we won't run out of time." Kiri explained while sitting down and pulling out a couple items such as a scroll and a pen.

Iruka scratched his head and reluctantly agreed. "Alright. But if we don't go inside, how're we going to know what we need to find out?"

The sound of Kiri's sigh drifted off as Izumo's focus became solely on Nagisa. The other shinobi stood close by Izumo and the faint words that Izumo's ears caught made his blood run cold.

"Such a pleasure to see you again, Iz-u-mo."

He grit his teeth and decided to ignore the Kirigakure proctor.

"Come on now, don't be like that."

A trail of fire burned on Izumo's skin as he felt Nagisa's hand near his arm. Izumo turned and caught the wrist of the other man before he could touch him. "Keep your hands off of me."

A light chuckle erupted from the older shinobi's mouth. "Still as defiant as ever. Such a shame. We were so close to breaking that pretty little–"

Before Izumo even registered that he had moved, he found himself on top of the other proctor, dangerously close from pummeling the other man's face in. A snarl escaped from his lips when he said, "The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because that would instigate an unnecessary war between our villages. Keep it up, and I'm not so sure that would be good enough of a motive to stop me."

A dead silence surrounded the contenders and proctors as other teams turned their attention toward the fighting pair. Once realized, Izumo spit on the ground by Nagisa's head before standing up and stalking toward Iruka. He could see the distress in the younger man's face, but he couldn't offer a conciliatory expression. Not yet.

"Let's get going. We only have a week to get to the other side of the mountain."

Izumo noted the hesitation in the two younger shinobi, but Iruka began to follow his lead. Kiri went to help Nagisa up before following behind Iruka.

This was going to be one hell of a round.

 **~i~*~k~**

Kotetsu fidgeted as he listened to Killer B explain how the last round of competition was going to work. It seems like there will be a two week window between when round three ends and round four begins. They wanted to give the candidates a couple of weeks to recover and master their combat skills before throwing them at each other again.

Kotetsu had heard that round three was about surviving a week within these cave systems. It was only day four, and he was antsy as all hell. He couldn't keep in contact with Izumo while the round was playing out, and Kotetsu hoped to whatever deity oversaw all of his drama that Izumo was okay and not having to interact with Nagisa Wani.

Not because he was worried about the other man. He was just worried about how Izumo's actions would reflect on the village and their mission.

Yeah, that was it.

The young raven haired man breathed an annoyed sigh. He was getting distracted again, and it wasn't a good thing. In all actuality, these past few weeks have been hell on his own psyche.

See, Izumo and Kotetsu used to be good friends. Really. In the academy, they were both troublemakers and had fallen into an easy friendship with each other: bonding over detention, hatching new and inventive ways to torture the teacher, and even escaping from class every once in a while to just hang out and be normal kids.

They had clicked so well that even their academy instructors had noticed it. They were put together on a genin team, along with Higeki Emiko, and shipped off to study under Inoichi-sensei.

Their genin team was a force to be reckoned with in the village at the time. Since it was also a time of war, they were pushed to graduate early and work under Inoichi-sensei. He had taught them many things, but he also shaped their career paths.

Kotetsu had a special skill for genjutsu and weapons. Combined with Izumo's water affinity, and Emiko's own brand of genjutsu, Inoichi had set the three on the path of working with, or even in, torture and interrogation.

Skip ahead a few years, and Inoichi's plans had been realized, at least by two of his students. Both Izumo and Kotetsu had ended up in the relatively new elite chunin program, and here they were today.

So, Kotetsu figured that he was antsy as hell because on some very deep level within his psyche, he still cared for his childhood friend. Even if Izumo had screwed up their friendship, they still had years where they had been inseparable. And it was showing now through his worry and anxiousness.

The proctors around Kotetsu began to stand up, and the raven haired young man realized that their meeting must be over. He stood as well, ready to head back to the motel. He hoped Izumo, Iruka, and the other candidates for Konoha weren't in too much trouble.

After all, there was only three days left before the third round was officially over.

 **~i~*~k~**

A freezing blast of cold air rushing over his skin startled Izumo awake. He couldn't see a damn thing, could barely recognize that he was awake and his eyes were open.

Holy. Damn.

Gritting his teeth, Izumo realized that his muscles burned like he had tried keeping up with Gai on one of his runs around the village. And a pounding headache at the base of his skull had the echoing of a night out drinking with Anko. Considering that he knew he hadn't done either of those recently, he knew something was seriously wrong.

A groan somewhere near him resounded in the quiet, making Izumo hold his breath, waiting to see who the other person was.

A wet sounding cough and a low groan echoed again as the other person must have shuffled around. "Izumo? Kiri-san? Nagisa-san?"

The chocolate haired chunin let out a breath of relief. "Iruka, I'm over here."

The rattling of rocks being shifted around sounded before he felt Iruka's chakra signature close in on him. Iruka managed to get a hand on his shoulder before stopping next to him. "Where are we?"

"That's what I would like to know." The voice was unfamiliar to Izumo's ears, and he tried to force his vision to adjust to the darkness of the caves so he could see who spoke.

"Wait…Izumo? As in a chunin!?" The feminine voice squeaked like she was surprised at hearing a proctor was with them.

Izumo's vision finally adjusted enough so he could make out the shadows of objects in the darkness. Iruka's voice echoed quietly in the dark. "Are you okay?"

A cough escaped from his lungs before Izumo was able to reply. Ah hell, that hurt his entire body. "Um…yeah. As much as I can be."

The striking of a match sounded before firelight illuminated the small area they were enclosed in. As Iruka helped Izumo sit up and lean against the back of a boulder, Izumo saw that they were in some serious trouble.

From what he could gather, a cave-in must have occurred. What he couldn't figure out, however, was how they had managed to survive, and how come there were so many other survivors in this area with them. As far as Izumo could remember, their squad of four had been pretty isolated when they had gone to sleep the previous night.

But looking around him, he was struck by an odd sense of peril. Seven pairs of genin eyes looked back at him out of the firelight. Three genin from Kumogakure. One from Kirigakure. One from Sunagakure. And two Konohagakure genin: Iruka and Hyuga Natsu. And each and every one of them were looking at him, expecting him to be their leader.

A moment of silence passed before Izumo cleared his throat. "How did we all end up together?"

"Beats me." A genin from Kumogakure answered. "I know these cave systems, been exploring them all my life, and I've never seen one have a cave-in. Were any one of you battling a creature or another team and used a wrong jutsu?"

Heads began shaking 'no' from each genin present.

"Most of us were probably asleep, I reckon." This was said from the Suna genin.

"Okay, well, all of you seem to be uninjured. How are we going to get out of here?" Izumo's head began pounding in an interesting thump thump thump following the pattern of his heartbeat. He closed his eyes for a second to battle off the headache before looking at the Kumogakure boy who had said that he had been exploring the cave systems all his life.

The boy crossed his arms and set his body into what Izumo imagined that the boy thought looked like a thinking position. "If we wait for rescue, we could all be dead by then. But if we try digging ourselves out then we're more likely to cause more cave-ins which will likely end up with us being dead anyway…. We could try using jutsu, but I'm pretty exhausted from these rounds. And it seems like you're fairly injured anyway."

A pointed look at Izumo's head, and Izumo realized that Iruka had been trying to wrap it up with clean bandages found in his pack. Startled, Izumo carefully touched the right side of his head, only to find it sticky and covered in blood.

"You…didn't know your head was bleeding?" Hyuga Natsu whispered quietly. Besides Iruka, she had been sitting the closest to Izumo, and her voice was soft enough that only the three shinobi from Konoha would have heard her inquiry.

Izumo decided not to answer that and instead started to focus on how the hell they were going to get out of this situation. Except, who started to blow out the fire's light? ….That was the only….the only illumination they had… and….and he didn't…understand why anyone would…want to be in the…dark after what they just…

…discovered.

 **~I~*~K~**

 **Quick explanation, Izumo's body was in shock. I realize with shock there are many different physical responses, but a lot of the time, people can act rationally and normal up until everything catches up with them (especially if they've been conditioned to handle pain).**

 **He didn't know he had a giant gash bleeding on his head, because his mind was trying to catch up with the events of everything that had happened, and he didn't do a physical assessment of himself when he woke up, just of the others. If you think I should add anything with the shocked based reaction, feel free to tell me, as I can honestly say I didn't look too much into it because I really wanted to get this chapter posted since it's been such a long time!**

 **Here's my lame excuse as to why it took me multiple months to upload this chapter: I actually couldn't get the flow right after the last chapter. I have probably re-written this chapter…10 or 11 times. And I mean, full rewrite! Like, I finished the chapter, was editing it so I could upload it, and even wrote an author's note on each one, before I decided that from the last chapter to this one, the flow wasn't right. I was forcing it. And I seriously was. I wanted to dwell more on the first two rounds of the chunin exams, and it just wasn't working out. Izumo was throwing a fit because I wasn't focusing on his story, and I apologized profusely to him before he finally gave me his last piece in this chapter. Kotetsu was up for anything I was writing, but his perspective wasn't even in most of my re-writes. Which, I'm sure was another reason that those previous versions of this chapter didn't feel right.**

 **Anyhow!**

 **Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope to see you in the next chapter of "The Elite Chunin"!**

 **~VBS~**


	6. Chapter 6

Early in the morning on the fifth day of the third exam, all hell broke loose.

An implosion from the mountain caverns that the third exam was taking place in had happened in the early morning, before dawn even broke. Immediately, Cloud ninja were surrounding the area, trying to work out what happened.

A team of highly trained earth users were dispatched to see the damage, and figure out if the participants were still alive. What they found astounded them.

The sites and layout of the implosion pointed to multiple mini explosions occurring all over the mountain at the same time. This left the remains intact but precariously positioned so that cave-ins would occur all over the caverns. Spots of untouched tunnels had been found, along with the dead proctor bodies of every nation. After a head count, it was discovered that two proctors were missing: Wani Nagisa and Kamizuki Izumo. Only one found proctor remained alive, saved by his medical savvy and quick thinking: C. Unfortunately, C was found unconscious and had not woken up as of yet to provide more insight into what had occurred.

What confused the Cloud Shinobi the most was that there was no sign of the genin participants anywhere. No dead bodies lay among the proctors, and none were found under the ruins that they had begun to search beneath.

Once realized, the Raikage had a mounting suspicion form and take place. This was sabotage. And a preplanned one at that. He made an announcement that the chunin exams were officially on hold until they could locate each of the participants that had been stolen and both of the missing proctors.

As for political action, the Raikage had immediately made a statement that this was not Kumogakure's doing, and that he and his shinobi were going to try their damned hardest to make sure each of those participants were returned alive. Anyone could tell that the Raikage was furious that this foul play had occurred on his watch and in his country during such a huge political event. So furious, in fact, that he had already set his sights on two main suspects for this outrage: Konoha and Kiri.

After too many days wasted, Kakashi, Kotetsu, and the jonin senseis had managed to convince the Raikage that this was not of their doing, especially since they had three genin participants and one chunin proctor missing. That was when the Raikage's suspicion focused upon Kirigakure.

 **~i~*~k~**

A shock of cold ghosting over Izumo's exposed skin shocked the young man into consciousness. Goosebumps broke out all over as his body began to shiver to try and keep him warm. Blinking slowly, Izumo's vision came into focus. He was no longer in a cave but, rather, a cabin. The chill was from an open window above his head, where cold wind rattled inside, cooling the air in the wooden structure.

With a quiet groan, Izumo sat up slowly and looked around.

Twelve bodies were scattered around the cabin, and Izumo noted that they were the participants from each of the villages who had made it to the third round, well…all except for the Kirigakure participants.

A pulse of pain from his head reminded Izumo that he had an injury he needed to tend to. The chocolate haired chunin carefully lifted his hand to his head and began a basic field healing jutsu, only for it to flicker out and die. Confused, Izumo brought his hand in front of him and tried to force chakra into his palm; a brief flash of blue and then nothing. That was when he noticed a pulse of chakra surrounding the outside of the cabin. They were locked inside by a chakra barrier. It seemed to also work as a chakra suppressor. Great.

Carefully moving again, Izumo slowly made his way toward Iruka and tried to wake up his friend. A soft groan emerged from the teen after his shoulder had been shaken quite a few times.

"'Ru, I need you to wake up."

"Mmm…I don't wanna."

Izumo rolled his eyes before giving a particularly rough shake to Iruka's shoulder. A beat later, Iruka shot up into a sitting position, ready to take on whoever had woken him up.

Izumo smiled lightly at the look of confusion on Iruka's face. "Expecting someone else, 'Ru?"

Iruka's blush spoke for himself before he crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue. But then he turned serious. "How in the hell did we end up here?"

"That's why I was waking you up. I was hoping you could tell me."

Iruka looked around the cabin, trying to collect his thoughts. "You passed out, probably from blood loss or shock. We were trying to figure out a way to get out, or at least alert someone that we were still in the cave system and not dead. Time passed for quite a while. At least…we had to change that dressing on your head at least three times because it kept soaking through, and none of us knew enough medical training to heal it up… Uh, sometime later, there was this weird gas that started to drift into our little space. It creeped up slowly and had an orange-ish tint to it. I don't remember much after that, but I think that gas made us fall asleep or pass out or something…"

Izumo frowned at the information Iruka had given. It seemed like…this whole ordeal was somehow…planned.

A throb of pain sliced through Izumo's head again, and Iruka's face of alarm alerted Izumo that he was probably in worse shape than he thought.

"You won't be able to heal it while we're in this cabin. They have us trapped…whoever they are."

Iruka frowned, but he nodded his understanding. "I can feel it too. It seems like we're just going to have to wait and watch."

Izumo hummed his agreement, but consciousness was not something that wanted to stay with him. His eyes slipped shut just as Iruka's worried face crept into his line of sight.

 **~i~*~k~**

A painful kick to his stomach awoke Izumo the third time. If he had had anything to eat in the recent hours, he probably would have thrown it up. As it was, his stomach was empty, and therefore he only coughed up some spit and stomach acid.

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in."

Dread curled in Izumo's stomach at that familiar voice. It was another one of his torturer's, Kurai Hotaru. This was the tormentor who had been so adamant about keeping Izumo awake during the new moon.

Dark green bangs fell into Izumo's line of vision as Kurai shoved his face in front of Izumo's. A wicked grin twisted his features into that of a predator who just found out that his prey was injured.

"Come to join us for some more fun, I-zu-mo?" A dark chuckled escaped from those cruel lips before Izumo's hair was snatched in the other man's hand, and he was dragged across the room.

Pain burst throughout his head, and Izumo was reminded of his head injury. The pulling on his hair only worsened the dull throb into the searing pain that made Izumo's eyes cross. With his vision strained, Izumo could barely see the genin scattered about the room…no wait…dungeon cell. When had they gotten moved again?

The light in the cell was bright, so bright that it stung Izumo's eyes, but at least he could see that every genin from the cabin was still with them. No Kirigakure genin, but the other twelve were all still there. A mounting dread curled in Izumo's stomach. Kirigakure was obviously behind all of this, but…why? What did they gain by kidnapping the genin competitors and Izumo?

Kurai let go of Izumo's hair but planted his foot on the chunin's chest as he chained up Izumo's arms and legs. Izumo dully noted he was by himself against the wall furthest away from the others but closest to the door. When Kurai had finished chaining him up, he yanked his head back again and hissed in his ear. "Lucky, you. Maybe I should say, unlucky you." A slight chuckle before, "You're not going to enjoy what happens next."

Izumo had to agree with the man. He probably wouldn't enjoy what was going to happen next. The lights cut out and the door clanked shut, indicating Kurai's departure. Izumo could only feel dread hang over his body. What was going to happen to them?

"Izumo?" Iruka's inquiry echoed much too loud in the quiet space.

"Any of you have torture experience?" Izumo could barely make out his own voice, it was so weak and raspy.

A chorus of 'no' resounded throughout the room. It figured. Konoha didn't start torture training until one made chunin, and only if they were going on B or A rank missions. D and C rank missions didn't involve the risk of capture and torture unless you ran into a rogue shinobi, which rarely happened on those lower-class missions. Izumo figured it must be the same with these other villages.

"Kirigakure is the one responsible for the cave-ins and the subsequent capture of us. I don't know how or why, but here we are. Since none of you have had torture training, I'm only going to tell you this: do not say anything. If you speak – hold a conversation with them – you are more likely to reveal information that they are looking for. If you must say anything, only reveal your name or your shinobi identification number. They already have those things from our dog tags, which you'll notice you aren't wearing anymore."

Vaguely, Izumo heard Hyuga Natsu's squeak, and he closed his eyes against the dull throb on the back of his skull. She was the only girl among the thirteen shinobi in this room, and it wasn't something he envied of her. He internally sighed. She was his biggest priority right now. A Hyuga and the only girl. He wasn't going to let those bastards touch her.

A silent snarl twisted his lips as his line of thinking went into surviving torture. "If you have any questions, do not address them out loud. Keep them to yourselves. They will use any weakness against you. They've likely been monitoring us since the cabin, and they're definitely monitoring us right now." A memory of him calling Iruka 'Ru' made him stop in his orders. Fuck, he was so fucking _stupid_!

He shook his head quickly to clear his thoughts then hissed as pain assaulted his senses. _His fucking head wound._ Taking a deep breath to calm and center himself, he organized his thoughts. He didn't know how long he had with everyone, and he felt responsible for these twelve genin who were looking at the only chunin in the room to lead them. At least, he felt their eyes turning in his direction.

"I've dealt with these guys before. For some reason, they've kept all of us alive, but that's likely to not remain true. They'll start pulling us out one by one, keeping us in separate rooms, torturing one of us in front of the others, killing us when they get bored. It will be random, and it won't make sense. That's because they want information, or they have a goal they need to achieve. Keep your heads up, and keep your mouths shut."

A scoff from over to his left sounded out into the darkness. A Kumo ninja if he remembered everyone's placement correctly. "Why should we listen to some chunin from Konoha? Huh? It's not like you have power over us!"

A chorus of agreement was scattered around the room and Izumo couldn't hold himself back. "Because, _genin,_ I'm your best bet at survival right now. If you don't believe me, just watch. The next few days will reveal a lot about you, and everyone else in this room."

Silence greeted Izumo's retort, and he wondered if he should have said something else – should have reassured them that he knew what he was doing, and that he would try to keep all of them alive. Doubt made Izumo quiet himself before anything else could leave his lips. He didn't want to get into it right now, and he had a feeling any weakness he showed would be met with brutality from their captors.

He wasn't looking forward to the days to come.

 **~i~*~k~**

The sound of a door clanging open jarred Izumo from the light sleep he had dozed into. Vaguely, he wondered if it was getting close to the new moon or if it was his head injury that was making him sleep so much. He couldn't remember.

Kurai's dark green hair fell into his line of vision again. "I'm going to start calling you sleeping fuckin' beauty with how often you doze off."

Izumo tried not to react. Given that this was the tormentor who had kept him awake during the last time he had been captured, Izumo guessed that Kurai was back for the same type of routine. So Izumo set his jaw and steeled his resolve.

Kurai released his chains from the wall but still grabbed the back of his head by the hair. It upset his head injury again, and Izumo went cross eyed with the pain.

"Time to break the pretty little bitch down again. This time, with an audience."

With dawning realization, Izumo was led to the middle of the room where loops were set into the ceiling and the floor. He was chained to the floor in a kneeling position but with his arms pulls behind him to support his upper body, his torso's weight pushing his hands into the dirt covered concrete floor beneath him. He was off balance, and he hated the vulnerable position Kurai put him in, but that's exactly why he did it.

From his position, he was facing the genin contestants, and most of them were awake, watching what was going on.

"You were so eloquent earlier when you were giving these younglings instructions on surviving torture. It really sparked my flame." A cruel sneer twisted Kurai's dark lips as he pulls on the chains, making sure they were secure. He was so close, and it made adrenaline race through Izumo's veins. "So much so, that I decided to give them a demonstration, firsthand, on what surviving torture looks like. I figured you wouldn't mind being the volunteer, what with our history." Kurai had leaned in closer to Izumo had he spoke, with those last words being breathed directly into Izumo's ear, like a warm caress from a lover.

The chunin elite tried to lean away from the other man, but the chains surrounding his ankles and legs didn't give much slack, and the only way Izumo could move was forward or backward, not side to side as he had hoped.

His muscles tensed as he waited for the first strike, and Kurai sure hadn't changed much, because the first strike came swift, and it hurt.

Not giving Izumo's body slack to move from side to side was a calculated decision on the tormentor's part. His right hook landed squarely on the side of Izumo's jaw, and as his body tried to compensate with the movement, he didn't go anywhere. Pain burst from his head, making him clench his eyes shut, and the chains and cuffs dug deep into his skin. He heard himself hiss as pain assaulted him all over, but he had taken worse, so he would survive this.

More hits landed and Izumo tried to detach himself from the present. It was just really damn hard to do so. His mind kept drifting back to all those genin watching, and he kept hearing quiet murmurs, sobs, protests. Didn't he tell them to keep quiet? That any weakness shown would be used against them? They certainly weren't the best at following orders, were they?

A particularly hard hit to his chest pushed Izumo backward, so he was still kneeling but now his back was touching the floor. This was more uncomfortable than the position before, but at least there was less strain on his arms.

He felt a heavy pressure land on his stomach, and he was barely able to raise his head up enough to see Kurai's foot stepping on him once again.

"Hmm, seems I can't stay and play with you as long as I would like to. I am going to leave you in such a… pristine position though. Can't say I wasn't ever charitable." A ruthless chuckle escaped from Kurai's lips before he stalked toward the door, shut the lights out, and left.

As the room was plunged into darkness, voices exploded from all around him. He could make out Iruka's and Natsu's voice, but he couldn't understand what any of the genin were asking him.

"Hey." When no one seemed to hear him, he tried again. "Hey! HEY!" Silence descended upon the room quickly. "No talking. Weakness, remember? I'll be fine. I've survived worse. He's put me through worse."

Izumo could tell that everyone was burning with questions to ask him, but the only thing he cared about was getting some more sleep.

 **~i~*k~**

The next time Izumo woke, he had somehow moved from his previous position back to being chained to the wall by the door. The bright light being turned on was what woke him, and he couldn't say that he was exactly excited about this turn of events.

A Kirigakure kunoichi who he didn't recognize was in the room, and it looked like she was debating who was going to be tortured next. Her eyes skimmed over Izumo, uninterested. And he'd be lying if he let out a slow breath, thankful that he could rest from his injuries. His head was still pounding like a sonofabitch, and he preferred not to be beaten to a pulp. But he was worried who she was going to choose next.

Vaguely, he hoped that she chose Natsu. A girl torturing another girl wouldn't be so cruel as to rape her…he hoped. A mixture of disappointment and dread curled in his stomach as she chose Hitoshi, the third Konohagakure genin that had been captured.

Similar to Kurai, she chained him up in the middle of the room, only he was standing with his arms stretched above his head and his feet attached securely to the floor.

Hers was an actual interrogation routine and not just senseless beating like Kurai's had been. She questioned Hitoshi before hitting him, and this continued for countless minutes before she got bored and started using chakra.

Chakra torture was a unique type of a torture in that it didn't hurt the individual, but it drained them until they were too weak to continue. Izumo had never experienced it personally, but seeing it being done was different from being told about it.

The kunoichi's chakra started to visibly glow around her hands as she placed them upon Hitoshi's arms, torso, legs, back, and shoulders. Izumo could see Hitoshi's chakra leaving his body in bursts, being drawn out by the kunoichi's own and dissipating into the environment. Hitoshi's affinity must have been for earth, because the room was filling quickly with dust and dirt. Or maybe it was the kunoichi's affinity that was for earth, and she was using her affinity to suppress Hitoshi's affinity from violently retaliating against her. Izumo never did remember which it was.

Shaking his head, pain throbbed through his skull, allowing him to focus and not let his mind wander. Finally, _finally_ , the kunoichi was done interrogating Hitoshi. She dropped him from his stretched-out position and deposited him back to his spot on the wall, chained up once again.

She left the lights on this time, the harsh glare allowing everyone to see how exhausted and drained Hitoshi was.

"Are you alright?" Izumo's voice echoed throughout the brightly lit room, even though it barely came out as a whisper.

"I will be, Izumo-san. …thank you." Hitoshi's words were barely heard by Izumo, but he knew that Hitoshi had to be tired after what he just went through.

"Get some rest and try to replenish some of that chakra she extracted from you. We'll be fine."

A slight nod of Hitoshi's head before he was fast asleep.

As a sharp pain cut through his skull, the chocolate haired chunin wished they had turned those damned lights off.

 **~i~*~k~**

Izumo didn't know how many days had passed, only that it must have been quite a few. Every single one of them had been tortured at least once, with the favorites being himself, Hitoshi, the Sand genin, and one of the Kumogakure genin. Luckily, none of them had died, yet.

Izumo had been dragged out of the cell multiple times to be beaten in isolation, but he had also had his wounds healed before being sent back into the room with all the genin. He wasn't sure why this happened, but he was glad that his head wound had finally been treated.

Sitting in the dark once again, Izumo couldn't help but be frustrate as hell. It sickened him that these genin had to see and experience such torture. They weren't conditioned for this type of brutality yet! Torture training usually happened after one had advanced to chunin, and even then, unless you were going into T&I or dispatched on higher-class, dangerous mission, it was fairly mild torture training. Gritting his teeth, Izumo tried clearing his mind. He needed to figure out why Kiri was doing what they were doing. What was their motive? How did they manage to pull this off?

A wet sounding cough sounded from the other side of the room. That was the Iwagakure genin. They had broken his ribs earlier, and Izumo would bet an entire year's salary that one of them had punctured a lung. Their captives were healing any fatal wounds, but any less than that, they were left to fester and suffer. Izumo knew they had to be kept alive, he just couldn't figure out the why of it yet.

The door unlatching drew Izumo's attention toward it. The light flicked on, and Izumo squinted his eyes until they adjusted to the bright light.

Nagisa Wani strode in the room, looking like he didn't have a care in the world. Izumo grit his teeth at the sight of the other man. He hadn't seen him since they were in the cave system, and he wondered where the bastard had run off to.

"My, my. Don't you all look so cozy. Such a shame that you won't be seeing these other guys again, hmm?"

Izumo's eyes widened as Nagisa walked straight over to him. "No, no. I'm not taking you, dear Izumo. You see, I've set my eyes on one of your little friends. In fact, I think he'll be the perfect one for what I have planned."

Izumo couldn't help the wave of nausea that rolled over him as Nagisa's feet took him closer and closer to Iruka. "I-ru-ka. Wake up, dear one. Oh wait, perhaps you prefer being called 'Ru?"

A quick slap to Iruka's cheek roused Iruka awake, and he immediately snapped his head around to face Nagisa's person. "There, that's more like it. Tell me, Ru-ru, should I torture you in front of your dear friend Izumo? Or should I just send for him after I've finished with you, so his imagination can wonder the entire time you're out of the room?"

Izumo's heart swelled at the fierce glare Iruka pinned Nagisa with, and he couldn't help but mentally cheer when Iruka didn't say a word.

"Oh, the quiet type, huh? Tell me, is that why you're such good friends with Izumo? Maybe more than friends." Another quick slap across Iruka's face, and Izumo could hear the malice tainting Nagisa's words. "Another fuckin' homo. The perfect type to take my frustrations out on." Releasing Iruka from his chains, but not from his handcuffs, Nagisa dragged Iruka up by his hair and spat in his face. "Let's go."

Izumo could only watch as Iruka was dragged from the room. Iruka tried to send him a reassuring look, but it wasn't effective enough to sway Izumo.

"Nagisa!"

Nagisa's head turned toward Izumo, a smile creeping upon his lips. "Yes, I-zu-mo?"

"Take me instead." Izumo wouldn't look at Iruka as he said this. He couldn't.

"Oh? What's this? Stepping in for your comrade? How very Konoha of you. Unfortunately, I don't take deals. As you should well remember."

The door snapped shut behind the duo, the sharp bang echoing in Izumo's ears.

 **~i~*~k~**

The third round had officially been called off three days ago, after it was discovered that none of the genin participants were in the cave system. There were groups of shinobi: proctors, jonin sensei, and Kumogakure ninja in general that were organizing into search parties and meticulously combing the landscape for any sign of the missing genin and chunin.

C, the only third round proctor who wasn't missing or dead, had woken up yesterday. He had been able to provide a lot more insight into just what had occurred during that cave in. Apparently, there had been a cave in, but C had woken up with some of the genin participants in an open area. They had tried getting out but to no avail. A day, or maybe just a couple of hours, had passed, when orange tinted smoke started filling up the small area they were in. C had recognized it as knock out gas and had directed everyone not to breathe it in. It was too late for the genin, though. They had been knocked out right away.

That's when things got interesting. C had been able to keep awake for a while when there had been a lot of noise coming from the other side of some of the rocks. Bright light had stung his eyes as an opening in the entrapment suddenly appeared. Except, it wasn't friendly forces like C had hoped.

Instead, it was a group of Kirigakure ninja.

The Raikage had immediately taken action, calling upon help from the other villages and pleading with the diplomats and remaining shinobi to help find the genin contestants. He organized squads to be sent out to search for the captives and had urged that shinobi from each village, sans Kirigakure, to help also.

He barred any remaining Kirigakure ninja from leaving Kumogakure; unfortunately; most of them seemed to have escaped before C had woken up. There were only three in custody from what Kakashi told Kotetsu.

Those three had been held, and orders had been given by the Raikage to search the border of Kumo and Kiri for the genin.

This is where we find Kotetsu and Kakashi currently. They had paired up with two of the jonin from Konoha and another squad of four of combined shinobi from Kumo and Sand. Kakashi had directed that the rest of the genin who were already eliminated be taken home to Konohagakure to reduce the risk of further incidence from occurring. The only Konohagakure shinobi remaining in foreign land at the moment were Hagane Kotetsu, Hatake Kakashi, Yamashiro Aoba, Namiashi Raidou, Kamizuki Izumo, Umino Iruka, Hyuga Natsu, and Minamino Hitoshi.

Hopefully, all of them would stay alive to make it home.

The group of eight stopped only when darkness completely encompassed them. Kakashi commanded that they set up camp and that they would be on the move again in four hours.

Kotetsu was bustling with nervous energy. He was worried, and he knew it. Iruka, Natsu, and Hitoshi. He knew all three of the genin captured; he was friends with them. And of course, there was Kamizuki…Izumo. Leaning back against the rock behind him, Kotetsu's thoughts turned toward Izumo.

The last time he had seen the other man had been the morning before the third exam began. The proctors and the remaining genin participants were going to meet at an undisclosed location before the exam began so that C could give directions and pair them up.

 _Izumo had seemed fine that morning, if not a little on edge._

 _Kotetsu looked up from his toast and asked, "Kamizuki, what's bothering you?"_

 _Izumo glanced up at Kotetsu, his eyes widened slightly. He always seemed surprised when Kotetsu initiated conversation with him. "Nothing."_

 _Kotetsu's eyes narrowed. "You never were a good liar. Now tell me what's wrong."_

 _A ghost of a smile followed by a deep sigh trailed Kotetsu's statement. "I'm worried. The third exam is taking place outside of range from our communication sets. And you won't be able to contact me after I leave the 800-meter radius. What if something goes wrong? What if Nagisa gets too close? What if I have another flashback?"_

 _Kotetsu listened to Izumo's concerns, and he realized what Izumo was really worried about. He was asking, 'What if I fail? What if I mess up because I'm still not healed from being captured?'_

 _The raven haired chunin made a decision right then and there. He stood up and put his hands on Izumo's shoulders. The other man stilled as he looked up into Kotetsu's eyes. "Kamizuki. You are going to pull yourself together, and you are going to proctor the third exam. If Nagisa tries anything, you kick his ass, like I know you can do. Give him hell so he doesn't mess with you, alright?"_

 _Another ghost of a smile appeared on Izumo's features before he looked down and nodded his head, hiding his face from Kotetsu. "Yes, sir. …Thank you."_

After that, Izumo had left to begin the start of the third exam while Kotetsu left to manage the genin participants who didn't make it to the third round but who wanted to do some sightseeing.

Knowing what he does now, Kotetsu wished he had told Izumo to kill the bastard Nagisa as soon as he got the chance. Well, it's too late now. Kotetsu slid down the rock to lie down on the soft soil beneath him. He hoped he could catch a nap before they took off again.

 **~i~*~k~**

 **Sorry for the late update! I had three papers to write and midterms to study for D:**

 **Thanks for reading! Drop me a line and tell me what you think!**

 **~VBS~**


	7. Chapter 7

The lights had been left on for such a long time that Izumo had a killer headache just from the bright florescent light illuminating the room. His head seemed to throb with each heartbeat, and the fact that Iruka still hadn't come back made Izumo antsy as hell.

Every time the door clanged open, Izumo would snap his head toward it, hoping that it was his friend returning from his one-on-one with Wani Nagisa. No such luck had occurred, but it didn't prevent Izumo from looking when the door opened for what seemed like the zillionth time since Iruka had been taken out of the room.

So, when the door opened again, Izumo turned his head toward the door. As he took in the hulking figure dressed in all red looming in the doorway, dread curled in Izumo's stomach and slowly spread throughout his entire body.

This man was powerful. His chakra was pouring off him to indicate that he was in an entirely different league than they were.

Izumo watched as the red-cladded figure stepped further into the room, his eyes assessing the ninja spread around their prison.

As his gaze flicked over to Izumo, a trill of pure terror raced down his spine. The guy's eyes held a dark gaze, and the power rolling off of him was indescribable. This man was one of the leaders of the Shuurai.

The Shuurai was the rogue ninja group that Izumo had been investigating all those weeks ago. The mission had been a non-contact, observation only, intelligence gathering mission. But the leaders were men that Izumo would not easily forget. There were four of them, and each of them always wore a distinct color: red, black, purple, and white. Each individual possessed an enormous amount of power, but when Izumo had been gathering information, he found that he could hardly find anything.

The leaders were all from the Land of Lightning, and they were rogues from Kumogakure, most likely born, raised, and trained in the Hidden Cloud Village. They had defected at different times, but they had made contact with each other to try and build an organization. What type of organization, Izumo had never been able to find out.

Izumo had spent weeks trying to dig up information that would be useful to Konohagakure, even if that information only told them that the Shuurai was or was not a threat. But, as he had been instructed not to interact with any of the members, Izumo never did find out anything pertaining to what these men had planned.

The chocolate haired chunin had found out that they were nurturing a group of followers to become a part of their organization. What their organization did, and what their end goal was, Izumo hadn't been able to discover within the time limits of his mission.

He had been coming back from his mission investigating the Shuurai when he had been caught by Kirigakure ninja…

With a sudden clarity, Izumo realized what he had gravely missed before. Kirigakure and the Shuurai were partners in some type of plan. That's why he had been captured. The Shuurai must've somehow found out that he had been investigating them, and instead of capturing him themselves, they made some type of deal with Kirigakure, or at least with a group of shinobi from Kirigakure, to capture and interrogate him to find out what he knew.

It was so painfully obvious now that his capture and torture was not a coincidence. Izumo just wished that he had realized this before now.

As the Red Leader began to walk with purpose toward Izumo, dread curled in his stomach, making another shiver run down his spine and breaking out goosebumps across his skin.

Vaguely, he heard the door to the room shut quietly with a soft click.

 **~K~*~I~**

Kotetsu awoke bright and early, exactly four hours after he had drifted off to sleep. Kakashi gave him a little wave when he saw Kotetsu look at him, and Kotetsu couldn't help but be a little creeped out by the casualness in that gesture.

The elite chunin stood and stretched his back before moving to straighten out his pack for the journey ahead. The other shinobi were doing likewise while Kakashi was fiddling with a map of the area. After his pack was in order, Kotetsu took a moment to relieve himself before they had to set out again for the day. Today, they were close enough to the border of Kirigakure and Kumogakure that they were going to need to split up to cover more area.

They had been designated by the Raikage to cover the coastal area instead of the islands, since Kumogakure shinobi were more familiar with the neighboring islands. So, the coastline had been left to the visiting proctors and jonin who were helping out in the search. Kakashi had indicated the area they had found Izumo in last time was closer to the heart of Kirigakure on one of their more secluded islands, but since that option had been taken away from them, Kakashi decided that they would go to the coastline furthest away from Konohagakure territory. He reasoned that if Kirigakure did take the genin and Izumo, they would want to stay away from Konohagakure in case they crossed paths with any Konohagakure patrols.

Right now, the two Kumogakure ninja in their squad of eight were preparing to cross the ocean to get to the closest neighboring islands, while the two Sunagakure jonin were preparing to take the sandy beach of the lower search perimeter. Kakashi and Kotetsu were going to search in the forest found to the north of their search perimeter, while Aoba and Raidou would take the middle in between. Each group had three days to search, and one day to meet back at the base camp they had set up.

After delegating orders and specifics, Kakashi turned to Kotetsu. "Ready?"

Kotetsu gave a swift nod before the two set off north. They crossed rocky landscapes and a valley before they were met with the mountain cliffs. The forest spread out across the mountain's surface, leaving an uphill climb for both Konoha shinobi to tread.

They scoured the area for hours, Kakashi even summoned his ninken to aid in the search and to cover more ground. The sun was beginning to set, and Kotetsu's spirits were lower than ever. They probably weren't even in the area that Kirigakure had taken the genin and Izumo to. If he were them, he would have taken them into the heart of Kirigakure.

"Actually, if these are shinobi acting independently of the Mizukage, they wouldn't have taken them into the heart of Kirigakure. They would have kept them to secluded areas of the country protected by harsh elements to avoid patrols and detection." Kakashi's voice startled Kotetsu, and he had to use his hands to keep from falling off of the branch.

"…did you just read my mind?"

Kakashi blinked a couple of times, at least Kotetsu hoped he wasn't winking at him, and – to Kotetsu's utter surprise – began laughing heartily. "No, no. You said that out loud. What you would do if you were them. I was merely giving you some insight into what I found out about the politics of the Raikage accusing Kirigakure of sabotaging his Chunin Exams. The Mizukage had adamantly stated that he is not a part of this, and he loathes to think he has shinobi that are acting out of order, especially by interrupting such a political event."

Kotetsu digested that information slowly, not even wanting to know how Kakashi found out about that, especially considering that what he just told Kotetsu sounded suspiciously like _classified_ information.

"Best not think too hard about that, kid." Another voice piped up from Kotetsu's ankle. Looking down, he saw an unimpressed-looking pug staring up at Kakashi and him.

"Oh! Pakkun, back so soon?" Kakashi held out his palm, and Pakkun used it as a jumping pad to successfully land on Kakashi's shoulder.

"The pack reported back, and no one could find a trace of anything. I don't think any of the genin or that chunin proctor are in these woods."

Kakashi 'hmm-ed', obviously thinking about something in that genius brain of his. "We did only scour the bottom of the mountain, but what if they didn't even travel above ground? They were in a cave system when they managed to capture everyone. Obviously, their escape route would have been the tunnels further in the mountain, or else they would have risked being caught by shinobi responding to the explosion and cave in.

"We know they orchestrated the cave in so only certain areas would collapse, so they had to have had escape routes built into their plan. And what if no one found those escape routes because the routes collapsed after they had been used? Tell me, Pakkun, Kotetsu, do you think the tunnels managed to traverse the entire mountain range?"

Kotetsu looked at the ground below them, unconsciously crouching down to get closer to the tree root imbedded earth laying as a landscape beneath the trees. Masking tunnels because they were still on a mountain. "Kakashi-san, I think you're on to something! We assumed that they would have to travel above ground after escaping the cave in, but what if they traveled all the way through the tunnels until they reached the sea? We're on the edge of the mountain range, because the mountains end with a cliff face, facing the sea. We should look where the cliffs are to see if there are any caves that seem to go on forever!"

Kakashi seemed to be smiling behind that mask of his. "Right you are, Kotetsu. Unfortunately, we don't have the daylight to search them tonight. I know you're anxious to find them, but if we do find them, we are both low on chakra from searching all day, and we would be outnumbered. We will rest tonight and rise early to see if our thinking is correct. If we find that we are right, I'll send one of my summons to gather the rest of our squad so we can all handle this carefully."

Kotetsu wanted to protest, but Kakashi's calm cadence and logic just deflated his arguments. He agreed with a nod of his head, and the two made camp for the night.

 **~I~*~K~**

" _Kotetsu! Izumo! You guys!" A shriek sounded from the bushes of training grounds 14._

 _A 26-year-old Inoichi-sensei merely sighed heavily before turning to look at the shenanigans of his genin troublemakers._

 _Izumo tumbled face first out of the bushes clutching his stomach and laughing uncontrollably. Tears were streaming down his face before they abruptly stopped. His facial features flickered into an expression caught under an impressive genjutsu before Kotetsu jumped out of the bushes, nearly landing on Izumo, and grabbing Izumo's arm, effectively dragging the other genin with him. When Kotetsu realized Izumo wasn't running with him, he formed a hand sign and whispered, "Kai!"_

 _Izumo's expression cleared immediately, and he thanked his best friend before the two ran off together, leaving a furious Emiko storming out of the bushes, and also the last of Inoichi's genin team._

" _Kotetsu! Izumo! You butt heads! Give me back my journal, NOW!"_

 _Belatedly, Inoichi realized that Kotetsu was indeed holding a pouch sized deeply colored purple book that seemed to have a seal tag with the kanji for lock written on it._

" _No! You put a genjutsu on your teammate! That has to be like, treason or something!"_

" _We were training! It doesn't count when you're training!"_

 _Inoichi sighed. His pregnant wife didn't give him near the headache these 12 year old adolescents did. Maybe he should rethink this whole parenthood thing and just stick to the one bun he already put in the oven. He didn't want to have to wrangle more than one munchkin at a time, considering how much stress 3 adolescents have put on him._

 _Deciding to finally intervene, Inoichi popped up between the three of them. "Things alright?"_

" _NO!" Emiko shrieked again before pointing an accusing finger at Kotetsu and Izumo. "They stole my journal! My private thoughts and feelings!"_

 _Kotetsu stuck his tongue out. "You have a lock on it, dummy! It's not like we're going to be able to open it anyway! This seal means it'll only open for your chakra! I would know. I asked Iruka about it yesterday."_

 _Inoichi raised an eyebrow at that. How long exactly were these two planning on stealing their teammates journal? And why in the hell would they want to in the first place?_

 _Izumo frowned and crossed his arms. "I only helped! 'Tetsu's the one who wants to read it!"_

 _Inoichi sighed again before deciding to end the matter. He grabbed the journal out of Kotetsu's hands before depositing it back into Emiko's. "There, problem solved. Now weren't you three supposed to be training? For the chunin exams?"_

 _A collective sigh resounded from his genin team before they got back to work._

 **~I~*~K~**

 _Strange_ , Izumo thought. _I hadn't thought of that memory in quite a while_. Blinking his eyes open, he realized that his eyes _were_ open. It was just really dark. And warm. Too warm, though, like boiling.

"Welcome back to the land of the conscious."

A voice from his right drew his attention that way, but when he tried to move his head, he found that he could not. A chuckle resounded before a dim candle was lit, illuminating only Izumo and nothing beyond that flickering light. He couldn't see who was talking to him, but someone was there.

"Can't move? I'd expected as much. You see, you're quite susceptible to suggestions put in your head."

"…wha-?"

 **~I~*~K~**

" _Hey, Izumo? Could I talk to you about something?" Emiko's soft voice echoed throughout the empty room._

 _Izumo looked up from the papers he was filling out and beckoned his teammate further into the room. Three months ago, his genin team had all passed the chunin exams with flying colors, and Inoichi-sensei had stayed as their squad leader while they built up their mission experience, taking on missions more fit to new chunin level shinobi._

 _Inoichi had been hinting at each of them specializing in something to hopefully one day make tokubetsu jonin, but so far none of them had taken the hints very seriously. In fact, Izumo was probably the first one to do so, as he was currently filling out paperwork to apply for different sections: gate guard, mission desk worker, T &I, and even a prison security guard._

" _Hey, Emiko. Is something on your mind?" Izumo put down his pen and watched his teammate sit down the table across from him. Normally, Emiko didn't visit the chunin alcove unless he or Kotetsu – usually together – were in there._

 _Emiko pointedly glanced at his paperwork. "If you're busy, I can talk to you later."_

 _Izumo shook his head. "No, no. This can wait. What's up?"_

 _Emiko glanced down at her hands, folded in front of her on the table. "You and Kotetsu both have plans already for what you're going to do in the future…I envy the both of you."_

" _Well, you don't have to decide right now. After all, we just barely made chunin, and we're all still only 13 years old. Even if you apply for a department, you can always transfer out later."_

 _Emiko shook her head and a wry smile graced her lips. "Always practical, aren't you, Izumo-kun? No. I mean…You both know that you still want to be shinobi."_

 _It took a couple moments before realization set into Izumo's head. "You mean…you don't?"_

 _Emiko glanced up at him before looking back at her hands. "No. This…lifestyle, I admire it. I think it's amazing that other people can do it, but…I can't. Not anymore. I've only been a full-fledged shinobi for two years and already I can't…do this anymore."_

" _But…you haven't even tried out different specialties yet! Surely you will find something you like!" Izumo's protest was cut off as he saw Emiko shake her head._

" _Sorry, Izumo-kun, but no. My jutsu style and technique all center around Yin release. And that's namely used for fighting or interrogation: both of which I do not want to do."_

 _Izumo frowned. His friend was worrying him. "If you don't continue with being a shinobi, what will you do?"_

 _Here, Emiko's shoulders shrugged, and she looked down at her folded hands. "I don't know…I just…this life doesn't seem to have the same appeal anymore." Tears began streaking Emiko's cheeks, and Izumo didn't quite know what to do. So, he did the only thing that he could think of that would comfort him when he was sad: he hugged Emiko._

 _That physical contact seemed to be her breaking point. She hugged Izumo back tightly and sobbed quietly until there were no more tears left to flow._

 **~I~*~K~**

Tears tracked down Izumo's own cheeks as he was forced to remember one of his most painful memories. Barely a breath left him as he whispered, "Why?"

He was met with silence, and when his vision finally cleared, he saw that he was alone.

He could move again, but all he had the strength for was sitting up on the cold, hard table he had been laying upon.

His eyes tracked over the room on automatic, and he found that the candle light earlier must have been for show, because dim florescent light flooded the room around him.

When he found the energy to stand, he almost collapsed immediately. How long had he been chained up? Carefully, and oh so slowly, Izumo made his way to the door and tried the handle. Locked, as he suspected, but it was worth a shot.

Turning around and leaning against the door, he slid down until he was sitting on the dirt covered ground. This feeling…he let a shaky exhale escape before he scrubbed at his eyes and looked down. He hadn't felt this way since Emiko's death. No…that wasn't right. He always carried this feeling with him, he just learned how to forget about it every once in a while.

Sometimes, he wished he could go back and change everything that happened that day, but it was too late now. Things had happened as they had, and it's not like he could go back in time and change that.

Drawing in a deep breath, Izumo stood again. His legs were still shaking underneath his weight, but he could deal with that. He began looking for a way out.

 **~K~*~I~**

Kotetsu crouched down low as he waited for Kakashi's signal. In their search for tunnels in the cliff face, they encountered a cabin nestled in the forest before the rocky shores overtook the terrain. After scouting the area around the cabin and going into the cabin itself, Kakashi had sent Uhei to gather the other members of their group. Both Pakkun and Uhei had indicated that the genin they were searching for had been contained in the cabin for at least a couple hours before being moved again.

Now, Kakashi was searching a passageway that had led right into the cabin. From what Kotetsu could see, the passageway had seemed to lead into a deeper tunnel, and he assumed Kakashi and Pakkun were trying to pick up on any scents or leads from there. He was on watch, in case anyone tried to come into the cabin.

Kotetsu's blood raced as he thought about how much closer they were to finding the missing genin and Izumo. They were so close, he just knew it!

A low sounding whistle bounced off of the passage's walls and echoed in Kotetsu's ear. To any old civilian, it would have sounded like some wind. To Kotetsu's trained ear, it sounded like Kakashi's signal for him to follow.

Eager to continue the search for his friends, Kotetsu dropped down into the passageway underneath the boards in the cabin, and found himself face to face with pitch darkness. This was going to be fun.

Carefully, he made his way along the tunnel that led far beyond the cabin's structural limits, and he tightened his hand on the kunai he was carrying. They were just checking out this lead. IF they found anything, then they would have to wait for backup to come. After all, there were just two of them.

Turning around a slight bend in the corridor, Kotetsu nearly ran right into Kakashi. Kakashi pressed a finger to his lips, and indicated with a nod that Kotetsu should go ahead and check what was going on up ahead.

Creeping quietly, Kotetsu came upon an observation room with a two way glass window contained inside of it. No one was in the observation room, and Kotetsu didn't see any cameras, so he decided to take a closer look. Inside the other room, Kotetsu's heart skipped a beat at what he saw.

Izumo was chained up inside, looking worse for wear. He was laying on his back in the middle of this table, and there was a shinobi covered in red cloth above him. Izumo seemed to be unconscious, but his body was twisting in a way that indicated he was trying to escape or run away.

Kotetsu was vaguely aware that it was going to be the full moon soon, and that it should be impossible for Izumo to sleep unless he was drugged or under some type of genjutsu. The raven haired chunin knew better than to try and sense which one it was, because that red-clad shinobi looked like he would be tough to deal with.

Pausing for a moment, Kotetsu realized that this room didn't have access to the room Izumo was being contained in, but there was another door. Kotetsu quietly tried the door, and it turned easily.

Carefully, he poked his head into the corridor and looked along the length of it. No one, not even some cameras.

"All clear?" The whisper from behind Kotetsu should have scared him, but he had been aware that Pakkun was in the room with him.

"I think so. Does Kakashi want us to break Izumo out?"

This time, Kakashi's voice answered. "I'm not sure it would be wise with our little friend in there, but I think I could take him if you can get Izumo out of there. He doesn't look like he's holding up too well."

A sound of agreement echoed from Kotetsu and Pakkun. "Yeah, I think I can manage that. But should we look for any of the genin?"

"Leave that to me. I can sniff anything out if you two keep any enemies at bay." Pakkun's gruff voice answered Kotetsu's inquiry.

"Let's go."

The three took to action. Kotetsu was the one that opened the door leading into corridor, and at the end of the corridor, he saw two more doors. One looked like it would be the right door to open to enter into the room Izumo was being contained in. He glanced back at Kakashi, and the silver haired ANBU nodded. Kotetsu opened the door to the room Izumo was being kept in. The red clad shinobi didn't seem surprised, and he didn't seem too worried either, until Kakashi attacked him from behind.

Kotetsu didn't even see the ANBU member enter the room, but he couldn't worry about that now. His main objective was still lying unconscious on the table and in danger of being seriously injured if they stayed a second longer.

The raven haired chunin managed to get beside his comrade in record timing and scooped up his unconscious charge into his arms. He avoided a harrowing jutsu that he wasn't sure which ninja threw, and he made it back out into the hallway without either of them getting a scratch.

He formed some hand signs and whispered, "Kai!" to try and dispel the genjutsu, but it seemed like it didn't work. Izumo had to be drugged then.

Kotetsu made back for the cabin with his heart racing a mile a minute. So far, so good. His destination was the cave he and Kakashi had camped out in and had previously agreed that was where they would meet up should they get separated.

A chakra signature lighting up behind him had him gasping for air. This person was powerful, whoever they were. Kotetsu tried leaping forward faster through the trees, trying to make for the cliff face, but he wasn't fast enough.

A figure flashed in front of him before attacking him in the next second. Kotetsu could only dodge the katana that gleamed from a purple-clad shinobi that had attacked them.

Gripping Izumo tighter, Kotetsu pushed more chakra into the balls of his feet and he flew through those trees. He could feel another chakra presence coming upon them, but this one was familiar: probably Aoba. Hopefully, Aoba.

As Kotetsu got out of range of the fight that was going to begin, he finally made it to the cliff face before jumping down and twisting into the entrance that was naturally concealed by another cliff and a light spray of water.

Their bed rolls were still unrolled, and Kotetsu carefully laid Izumo down upon one before he made to go out to help in the fight.

A tight hand around his ankle stopped him, and Kotetsu glanced down at the chocolate haired chunin who used to be his best friend.

Tears were streaming out of his eyes, making Kotetsu's emotions spike, and a hoarse whisper escaped from chapped lips. "They have Iruka in a different room. Separate from the genin. Find him, please."

After a beat, Kotetsu nodded. "I will. Stay here. Don't do anything stupid."

Izumo gave a nod before succumbing to unconsciousness again. Maybe he had been drugged. Maybe it had been a genjutsu. Or maybe it had been both.

Shaking his head of such thoughts, Kotetsu headed back out into the rocky mountain cliffs then forests, his aim: to find Iruka.

* * *

 **Wow. I'm so sorry this took so long to get out! I had been fairly busy with finals and papers, then dumbass me had to go start liking someone. Happy feelings are not wanted when writing this chapter. At all. Nor the next one. Foreshadowing? Haha Anyway, there's only a couple of chapters left, so look forward a completed story soon!**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **~VBS~**


	8. Chapter 8

Izumo curled into a ball and held his knees tightly to his chest. Kotetsu had released him from the genjutsu he had been trapped in, but that didn't make the memories go away.

 _Emiko stared right at Izumo as he sat down across from her at the restaurant table. "Hey, Emiko!"_

 _"Hey, Izumo."_

 _"You feeling any better?"_

 _Emiko had been hospitalized after her last mission for some really nasty shuriken cuts on her arms._

 _Except those cuts hadn't been from an enemy shuriken. They were from her own._

 _Izumo knew this because Emiko had told him about the cutting. How she couldn't stop herself. How it made the memories of taking a life easier to deal with. How it helped her cope._

 _Izumo knew it wasn't healthy. He_ knew _it wasn't. He had tried to help her. He suggested alternatives. He stayed over at her house after particularly bad missions. He made her stay at his after bad missions. He had taken her to the hospital when she was too weak to do it herself._

 _But none of this had made her stop. He tried to get her to talk about it more, but she always cut him off, saying that she was dealing with it, and he shouldn't worry._

 _He wanted to tell somebody, but she had forbidden him from doing so. He…wanted to tell Kotetsu or Inoichi-sensei, or_ somebody _but she told him that if he did, then she wasn't going to get help. Ever._

 _"Such is the life of a shinobi." She would say. Which left Izumo to deal with it on his own, because knowing what Emiko was doing to herself when no one else did? It took a toll on him. A toll that he didn't want to shoulder, but one that he would because he would be there for his friend, especially in her time of need._

 _"I'm feeling fine. I'm actually glad we get to talk before our next mission! We were assigned to the same one, right? It feels so weird being on separate teams now that Inoichi-sensei had to take paternity leave temporarily. I still don't know how you and Koko managed to stay on the same squad. It's not fair." A fake pout and a real laugh. This was how Emiko covered up her illness. Behind conversations, smiles, and normality._

 _"Y…yeah. Kotetsu, you, and I are going to be teammates on this next one, right? It'll be just like old times!"_

 _Emiko flashed another smile, and Izumo's heart broke at the despair he could see deep in her eyes. When she said she didn't want to continue on with the shinobi life…did she mean that she didn't want to continue on with…any life?_

 _"That's right! Koko, Emi, and Zum paired up once again! We'll definitely complete this mission without fail!"_

Well, they had completed their mission. Except they did fail to bring one of them back. Emiko died on that mission, and Kotetsu believes her death was Izumo's fault. Izumo's body was racked with shivers as he was pulled into another unwanted memory.

 _An ear-splitting shriek rang throughout Izumo's ear drums as the sounds of the battle slowed to a halt. Time seemed to stop in the scene unfolding before him._

 _They had run into two missing shinobi: veterans from the recent war that had ended. The enemy had surrounded them, and a tireless battle had ensued. Now, Kotetsu was left with a jutsu tumbling toward him while Emiko had a katana held to her throat. Izumo made a split-second decision - even as Kotetsu and Emiko both screamed at him to save the other. Izumo managed to get to Kotetsu in time to save his best friend; but as he did, Emiko's shriek faded into nothingness as her life left her lungs, and her chakra bled back into nature._

 _Kotetsu and Izumo had teamed up on the other shinobi and killed both adversaries before Kotetsu turned to Izumo and began screaming at him for making the wrong decision._

 _"You killed her! You killed Emiko!"_

 _Izumo stood frozen to the spot as Kotetsu collapsed into the damp moss underneath their feet. "I would have lived if that jutsu hit me! I had time to evade it! But…but_ Emiko _, you knew that katana would have killed her. You couldn't have not known that! Why did you save me, 'Zum?! Huh!?"_

 _Izumo didn't have an answer at that moment, but years later he would. He saved Kotetsu for more reasons than Kotetsu would ever know, and Izumo didn't regret his decision for a second._

Tears were streaming down Izumo's face as that particular memory came to the forefront of his mind. To this day, Izumo had never told Kotetsu why he saved him and not Emiko. In fact, he had never told anyone. Kotetsu assumes that Izumo saved him because Izumo loves him. Which may be, in part, true. But Izumo had another reason.

Izumo had found a notebook in Emiko's room - that same black notebook that Kotetsu had stolen from Emiko when they were newly-minted genin. It was open, and he had happened to glance at the diary entry. There was…a plan for her suicide should she survive this mission. At the very bottom of the page Emiko had simply wrote, "This is my last entry, diary. Thank you allowing me to put my deepest thoughts on your pages. I will no longer need you after this mission is completed."

Izumo had been struck by such a wave of sadness and heartbreak when he read that, but he didn't know what he should have done. He had wanted to approach Emiko and demand that she not continue this line of thinking, demand that she get some help. Instead? Izumo let himself be distracted on their mission and during their fight with the two rogues. He had let emotion cloud his judgement. He figured that he is responsible for Emiko's death because Kotetsu was right. He would have lived if that jutsu had hit him, and Emiko…well, he'll never know now.

Murmuring voices from the entrance of the cave roused Izumo long enough for him to grab a hefty rock in defense and sit up with his back toward the cave wall where he wouldn't be seen until after he saw who was approaching. As they got closer, he recognized the voices. They were some of the genin who had been captured. He eased up his grip, but he didn't let go of the rock.

Surprisingly, Aoba rounded the corner with quite a number of captured genin.

Izumo made a mental head count: eight. Hitoshi and Natsu included. Missing were Iruka, the Iwagakure genin with the broken ribs, one from Sunagakure, and one from Kumogakure. Izumo turned questioning eyes to Aoba, and Aoba just shook his head. He directed the genin to sit tight until someone came for them. The jonin left a backpack and told them there were blankets, water, and food rations inside for them.

Before he left, Aoba stalked over to Izumo and crouched down beside him. "How are you holding up?"

Izumo blinked a couple times to do a quick mental assessment. "I'm fine. Not ready to travel yet though. 'm still a little dazed."

Aoba gave a quick head nod. "We haven't found the others yet. Kotetsu mentioned that Iruka-kun was taken to a different room. We assume the same for the other three. Sit tight with these guys and keep them busy until one of us comes back."

Izumo gave a quick nod before cringing slightly at the feeling that rocked through him. Aoba gave a chuckle and a slight shake of his head. "Try and rest. Heal up a little. I know you're one for being hardcore after surviving torture but give yourself a break."

Izumo made a face at the teasing tone and watched his superior walk back toward the entrance of the cave, preparing to leave to continue the fight.

He turned his eyes to the genin, who were now passing around a water canteen and doling out mission ration bars. Hitoshi managed to limp over to Izumo and offered him the canteen and a bar after it had been passed around. Izumo quietly thanked him and took both.

After a mental battle with himself, he stood up and slowly made his way to the rest of the genin with Hitoshi following. They sat in a circle, and he joined their ranks.

Questioning eyes turned to him for what felt like the millionth time in the past few days. These kids…no, _these soldiers_ , they trusted him enough to look to him for guidance; and by Kami was he going to deliver.

"Reinforcements have arrived from Konoha. I'm assuming all of the other villages, sans Kirigakure, are on their way. They're fighting a formidable foe right now called The Shuurai."

At this, one of the Kumogakure genin tensed up. "No…" was all he breathed before shaking his head and curling up into a ball.

Izumo turned concerned eyes on him, and surprisingly, Natsu reached out to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. At the contact, the genin looked up, his eyes watering, and he glanced at everyone in the group before focusing on Izumo.

"My home village was destroyed by them. My town was more on the outskirts of the Land of Lightning, and it was not very close to where the Hidden Village is located. A few months ago, they struck my village, and left it desolated. No house was spared. They either turned the families to their side, or they killed them. I wasn't…My younger brother…he was forced to join but later escaped. He found me and told me the rest of my family was killed, but he had to live so I would know the truth. These shinobi…they're powerful and dangerous. They are pure murderers. They kill to gain in their ranks, and they want to overthrow Kumogakure to become the new regime. They enlisted the help of Kirigakure, but they needed time and more power to enact their plan. My brother…he…he was killed when they found him, but he told me this…

"He explained that if the Shuurai were to ever gain control and make a new regime, then war would surely be upon us once again. He…He recognized some of the shinobi from the Third Great Ninja War. Many defected because they were bitter toward the Land of Lightning for submitting to the other nations. They will stop at nothing to gain control over this land and to bring about a time of war once again."

Izumo's head reeled at the information just given to him. He had no idea that was the Shuurai's purpose. He needed…he needed to tell…Kakashi or Ibiki, hell, the Third Hokage needed to know!

Natsu's quiet voice pulled him from his thoughts. "That was why they attacked during the chunin exams and captured all of us. They wanted to offend a political event, so that the other nations would have to attack, even with the recently established peace."

Izumo acknowledged the truth in Natsu's statement. Natsu is a Hyuga. A branch house Hyuga, but still a Hyuga nonetheless. She was probably taught just how political these events are, and even one requirement out of line could mean wartime on the offending nation.

The depths of this implication were still reeling around Izumo's head, until he heard more footsteps coming from the mouth of the cave.

Three figures appeared, and Izumo relaxed as soon as he felt Kotetsu's presence. With him were Kakashi and Iruka!

Izumo went to stand, but Kakashi held up his hand. "Sit. Rest. We will need to travel quickly when it is time, but that is not now. For now, you need to heal."

The two shinobi brought over Iruka, who looked to be unconscious, and carefully laid him on the bedroll Izumo had recently vacated.

After straightening, Kakashi made to leave, and Kotetsu made to follow, before Kakashi stopped him.

"I want you to stay here with Izumo and protect those who are too weak to fight. The enemy is getting uncomfortably close to this area, and we need to make sure they don't recapture anyone."

Kotetsu's jaw tensed just enough to be noticed, "I can be more help out on the field than in here!"

Kakashi's eyes flashed. "Step down, soldier. It is not your call to make." Kakashi's voice was like fire and ice. It made Izumo's instincts flare up and his blood run cold simultaneously. This was the assassin. The mask. ANBU.

Kotetsu barely managed to keep himself from taking a step back.

Kakashi sighed. "You're both my responsibility, and I'm being held accountable for your safety, not only by the Third Hokage, but Ibiki-san as well. Do well to listen to me. I'll need you to be in fighting form should they reach here to attack or recapture."

Kotetsu's stance loosened, and he agreed with Kakashi's commands to stay.

"Wait!" Izumo's voice echoed just on the side of too loud in the cavernous space, and Kakashi stopped before looking at him.

"Intel, on the enemy."

Kakashi stayed long enough to be recounted with what the Kumogakure genin had told Izumo, and a little more about who exactly these shinobi are, before leaving again to aid in battle.

 **~K~*~I~**

Kotetsu slowly sat down, closer to Iruka than the group that was formed with Izumo. They all looked like hell, but he imagined that would be the case after sustaining even just a small amount of torture.

Shit, what must have happened to them…even the ones not from Konoha were looking to Izumo for guidance, especially when he and Kakashi had arrived. They took orders from Izumo, and that's what they were: orders. Like, they were used to him, and they trusted him. It…it was unusual to see shinobi, even if they were just genin, from other villages trusting a shinobi not from their own.

Kotetsu felt eyes upon him, and he wasn't surprised when he looked up to meet Izumo's gaze.

Izumo looked like hell. It seemed like he hadn't slept for a long time, which made sense because it was close to the full moon again, and he looked bone deep tired. Like all he wanted to do was curl up in a warm place and sleep until he couldn't sleep anymore.

Kotetsu thought that sounded heavenly, and he wasn't even the one that sustained any torture.

Quirking an eyebrow, Kotetsu silently asked the other elite chunin what was up.

Izumo glanced at the genin surrounding him, and Kotetsu guessed that he didn't want to discuss it in front of them.

He watched Izumo stand and followed when he went deeper into the cave.

"What's wrong?" The question was out of his mouth as soon as they had a vague sense of privacy.

Izumo paced back and forth in front of him a few times before stopping completely. "I want to…I need to talk with you."

"About?"

Here, Izumo paused, seeming to not want to continue. "When you found me…I was under a genjutsu."

Kotetsu nodded, unsure of where Izumo was taking this.

"You released me from it… but it wasn't like it was genjutsu more than…it was forcing me to relive memories."

"Your torture?"

"No. It was…worse. Something I've never told anyone…ever."

The raven-haired man blinked a couple times. "What?"

Izumo closed his eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh. "Please… Don't yell…He made me relive memories about Emiko."

Kotetsu tensed again. Emiko was a touchy subject. Always had been after what Izumo let happen. Of course, he must feel extreme guilt over it, except that…Kotetsu had never actually witnessed any guilt that Izumo may have had over it.

Maybe refusing to be his friend anymore had blinded Kotetsu to Izumo's pain, but she was their teammate, no a friend. Hell, even a best friend to both of them! And Izumo made a stupid decision in the field that led to her death.

A death that could have been avoided.

A death to someone that was important to both of them.

So, yes, Kotetsu was pissed when Izumo saved him from something that would have landed him in the hospital at worst, and something he could have evaded at best. Emiko though…she never stood a chance when Izumo turned his back on her to help Kotetsu.

It made Kotetsu feel responsible for Emiko's death as well.

He blamed himself for not moving in time to save her, even if Izumo had been the one to make the choice to not save her.

It was all fucked up.

This situation is all fucked up.

Realizing that the silence had gone on for too long, Kotetsu drew in a deep breath. "What about her?" His voice came out harsher than he had wanted it to, but that was nothing new to Izumo – especially about this subject.

Still, Kotetsu felt bad when Izumo shrank away the tiniest bit at his tone.

"She and I kept in contact after Inoichi-sensei went on paternal leave. Even though we were on different squads, I would still meet her for lunch or training."

Another sore spot for Kotetsu. Had he known Emiko was going to die young, he would have made more of an effort to see her during those months they hadn't been on the same team. He would have tried to be more of a friend than he had been.

"Well, no use for the long silence. Out with it." Kotetsu's voice took on another sharpened edge. He hated how it sounded, but he hated facing these memories more than anything else.

Izumo tensed, and it was like a switch was flipped. Instead of his sunken in stance and regretful expression, a fire flared and burned right through him. "You know what? I'm fucking sick and tired of your 'holier-than-thou' attitude when it comes to discussing Emiko. Yeah, I fucked up big on that mission, but you know what, Kotetsu? So did you! She…" Izumo took a big breath and released it slowly. "No. I'm not saying this here. It's not the right time."

Now Kotetsu was annoyed. "If you're not going to tell me, then why bring it up in the first place?"

Izumo bared his teeth then, and Kotetsu couldn't helped but think, ' _Good'_. Let him get mad. He needed to back off.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah, Izumo! I fucking do!"

Kotetsu took in Izumo's stance. He looked like he was bracing for a punch. Should Kotetsu get ready to punch him? Wait. No. Hear him out first.

Izumo's voice was pitched low, and his words cut through Kotetsu like a kunai. "She was suicidal, Kotetsu. Her diary we stole that one time? She had written out a suicide note before that last mission. It said that mission with us was going to be her last one, ever. She didn't want to fucking live anymore, Kotetsu!"

Izumo's voice cut off sharply. The two elite chunin were surrounded by the darkness that encompassed the cave around them. The only thing that sounded was Izumo's harsh breath after his impassioned outburst.

Kotetsu barely heard it. His own heartbeat pounding in his ears was drowning out all other sounds.

What?

"What?"

Just as fast as the passion had come, it left in an instant and the fight just seemed to drain out of Izumo. He returned to looking tired, so much more worn than his nineteen years should ever look.

"Yeah… I found her cutting one day. She started opening up to me after that. She would always talk about wanting to quit being a kunoichi. I…I couldn't tell anyone… She made me swear I never would, and she threatened she would never get help if I told someone. Now I know it wouldn't have mattered. She…she still ended up being dead. But I keep telling myself, at least she didn't kill herself. At least she died honorably on a mission. At least she didn't end as a coward."

Izumo couldn't keep it together anymore, and he sank to the ground, tears streaming down his face and a hand cupped over his mouth to muffle his sobs.

Kotetsu stood stalk still over his…his _friend_ who was hurting and who was such a _fucking idiot_.

Kotetsu dropped to his knees in front of Izumo and pulled him in close. It was the embrace he had wanted to give Izumo ever since the chocolate haired man had collapsed on him during their training session, before the chunin exams started. Hell, probably for even longer than that.

"You fuckin' idiot. I hate you." Kotetsu hushed into Izumo's hair.

Izumo just seemed to cry even harder. "I know."

"How long?" How long did you know? How long did Emiko's death weigh on you? How long did you want to tell me this? How long did you have to suffer by yourself?

"For far too long."

Kotetsu accepted Izumo's answer and pulled him in closer. It was sufficient for now. Later, much later, after this goddamn disaster of a political event was over, they could chat. Talk. Finally address the elephant in the room that had been there for far too goddamn long.


End file.
